SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A windfall of state funding is coming to San Diego, including money for Ocean Beach Pier repairs, an energy-storage project at San Vicente Reservoir, and the city's Pure Water program.
Money from California's state budget, signed last week, will fund the series of San Diego projects and programs.
"The dollars that San Diego is receiving from the state will upgrade critical infrastructure, help us fight homelessness, ensure a reliable supply of clean water, enhance our arts and culture and much more," San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said.
Of the funding, $8.4 million will go toward rehabilitating the Ocean Beach Pier, which partially reopened just before Memorial Day weekend after undergoing repairs due to high surf. A recent report and city officials have said though the pier is in need of desperate rehabilitation.
Funding from the state will also go toward San Diego's Pure Water program, which the city intends to expand to produce roughly half of the city's water supply by 2035, and have the capacity to create 83 million gallons of water daily. The program treats and recycles wastewater to be used as drinkable water.
Another $18 million will go toward an energy storage facility at San Vicente Reservoir. The facility could store 4,000 Megawatt-hours per day of energy. The county Water Authority says during off-peak hours when power is inexpensive and supplies from wind and solar exceed demand, the facility could discharge stored energy that is created by the reservoir in a closed-loop system that doesn't consume water.
According to the city, some of the projects and programs being funded include:
- $50 million for San Diego’s Pure Water program;
- $35 million to replace an aging research vessel used by Scripps Institution of Oceanography;
- $35 million for the renovation and remodel of a historic theater and community room at the San Diego Community College District’s Educational Cultural Complex;
- $30 million for planning, design, site development and construction of a replacement UCSD Hillcrest Medical Center;
- $27.3 million this year as part of California's $12 billion plan to address homelessness;
- $18 million for an energy-storage project at San Vicente Reservoir;
- $8.4 million to help rehabilitate the Ocean Beach Pier;
- $3.7 million for building renovations at the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park;
- $3.1 million to prevent polluted stormwater runoff from entering Chollas Creek in the community of Sout;
- $3 million for capital improvements at the San Diego Symphony’s new Rady Shell bayfront concert venue; and
- $2.5 million for renovations at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma.
