A rendering of the Pure Water plant / Image courtesy of the city of San Diego

For more than a decade, San Diego has been talking about recycling water. Wastewater would be filtered to drinking water standards and eventually provide the city about a third of its water needs.

In November, the City Council approved the first, $1.4 billion phase of the project, but the city can’t and won’t say how much that will affect customer’s bills.

Voice of San Diego’s Ry Rivard joins the pod this week to talk about why the city is saying “there is no simple calculation” it could perform to see how much ratepayer’s will have to foot the bill. That discussion starts at minute 29.

Also on the show, the crew breaks down the Metropolitan Transit System’s potential 2020 ballot measure that aims to break San Diego’s reliance on cars, both to cut carbon emissions and to alleviate a housing shortage through dense, transit-focused development. VOSD obtained a revenue forecast the agency commissioned, which found a measure could bring in roughly $13 billion over 40 years, which local transit leaders have greeted as a substantial figure for improving the region’s modest transit system. And this week, the agency is running its first poll to figure out how popular a transit tax could be, and which projects are most popular.

Plus, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez announced she’s running for secretary of state in 2022 (yes, three years from now). This may be news to everyone else, but not us. VOSD’s Sara Libby asked Gonzalez about it in a live podcast last year. Plus: County Supervisor Dianne Jacob announced in her State of the County address that she wants the board to move forward on community choice energy for county residents as an alternative to SDG&E.

One last thing: The People’s Reporter is back — and we need your help to determine which question we’ll report on next. Take the quick poll (and submit your own question) at voiceofsandiego.org/peoplesreporter.

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