Helix Water District

Ever wonder what your Helix Water District water bill pays for? We are a not-for-profit public agency. This means that every dollar we collect from customer bills goes directly to the cost of providing clean and reliable water. Almost half of your water bill pays for purchasing imported water. The rest of your bill pays for the costs of operating, maintaining, administering, protecting and improving your 24/7 water service.... Watch our video and see the breakdown of where your money goes. Learn more at https://hwd.fyi/rates.

The Helix Helps Customer Assistance Program starts today, April 5, and offers a one-time credit of up to $300 to help Helix Water District’s residential customers who live in a single-family home, are behind on their water bill and can demonstrate loss of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn more below. #cawater #community #HelixHelps

Tomorrow, April 1, is the last day to submit your Helix Water District scholarship application! Each year the district offers two $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors who will begin their university studies the following fall. View eligibility requirements and the application at hwd.fyi/a1c. #cawater #scholarships GUHSD

Don't forget - Spring Break continues this week at Lake Jennings, which means the lake is open daily! The weather is beautiful for fishing, boating, hiking and picnicking!

Have you been impacted by COVID and need help paying for rent and utilities like your water bill? The CountyOf SanDiego is accepting applications for its Emergency Rent and Utility Assistance program through March 31. Learn more

Teamwork makes the dream work! A partnership is underway to ensure a strong water future for East County using state of the art technology to purify drinking water! Learn more https://youtu.be/gHH3qI94Fmg. Padre Dam Municipal Water District - County of San Diego - City of El Cajon

Last week we hosted Helix Water Chats on Facebook Live, which gave customers an inside look at our tanks: why we have tanks where we do, how they help us provide safe and reliable water 24/7, and what Helix is doing to maintain, repair and improve them. It’s not too late you can watch the presentation at the link below.

Considering a career change? The Women in Water Symposium will take place virtually starting March 2 and provides the opportunity for students, water industry professionals and people exploring careers in the water and wastewater industry, to make connections. #cawater #womeninwater

Helix manages, maintains and operates 25 tanks across the 50 square miles of our district to provide our 277,000 customers with water to their faucets on demand. Water tanks vary in size, shape, location and function, and they are the focus of our virtual event. Join us on Facebook Live for a discussion about our local water tanks tonight at 5:30 p.m.

Stay vigilant and stay safe!

Lake Jennings received nine awards in the East County Californian's 2020 Best of East County Readers Poll! Thank you to all that voted and congratulations to everyone who makes Lake Jennings such an award-winning destination! #boes2020

Helix customers - get a $100 rebate when you install a qualifying smart leak detector. These devices show your water use on your smartphone in real time and alert you to high use and leaks 24/7. Learn more at hwd.fyi/SLD.

If you want to know how Helix is managing the quality and reliability of your tap water, we recommend reading two reports that we publish each year in the fall. Start with our annual report, where we share our performance metrics everything we accomplished last year. Then take a look at the introduction to our budget, where we explain what we plan to do, and why, in the year ahead. Finally, our 2020 strategic plan outlines the district’s goals and objectives for the next five years.

For the next two weekends, Lake Jennings is hosting Spooky Camp-o-ween for registered campers. Spooky Camp-o-ween is a great opportunity for campers to have a ghoulishly good time celebrating Halloween while still being socially distant and safe. Campsites fill up fast, so make your reservation today!

Helix Water District’s Board of Directors adopted a resolution yesterday proclaiming the week of October 3-11, 2020, as Water Professionals Appreciation Week, highlighting the essential role of water agency professionals. Now more than ever, we appreciate the dedication of our highly trained staff who are making sure our community has safe and reliable drinking water.

Friday Night Fishing at Lake Jennings continues! Join us this Friday from 3pm until midnight for night fishing, boating and evening picnicking. Don't forget to check out our new boat dock! Full size lanterns are required after 8 p.m. and the lake entrance gate closes at 10 p.m. Details at hwd.fyi/iw9.

Yesterday, the East County Advanced Water Purification Joint Powers Authority approved design and pre-construction work agreements for its advanced water purification facility. The collaborative, multi-agency project will supply up to 30% of East County’s drinking water, reducing reliance on imported water.

We've updated our construction map so that you can see where and how we are putting your rates to work. We have 10 construction projects scheduled for this year, and our interactive map shows project details, the timeframe for construction and how to contact the project manager. Each one of these projects is part of the district’s Capital Improvement Plan, which prioritizes the design and replacement of our infrastructure. By reinvesting your water rates, we can improve our water system’s operation, reduce emergency repair costs and make our communities more resilient.

These purple flowers are from Mexican Bush Sage, one of the many plants in our Demonstration Landscape at our La Mesa Office. This plant is great if you are looking for immediate color, fragrance and year-round blooms. See for yourself in person or check out our webpage for more information at hwd.fyi/garden

Catch every drop! Pre-order discounted rain barrels (max 2) by October 18 through the Solana Center and pick them up on October 24 at the Water Conservation Garden in El Cajon. Rainwater harvesting saves water, improves plant and soil health, and reduces runoff and pollution. Learn about program eligibility and place your order at www.solanacenter.org/rain-barrels. Program sponsored by the County of San Diego - Government and the San Diego County Water Authority.

Check out the summer blooms of St. Catherine’s Lace, a type of buckwheat that is native to California. This is one of many colorful native plants in our Demonstration landscape at our La Mesa office. To learn more about this and other flowering native plants, visit hwd.fyi.garden

Our new boat dock at Lake Jennings is built with concrete modules -- a foam core makes the modules float, and the concrete shell is expected to last over 50 years. This is where you rent a skiff or kayaks and we think you’ll like how stable the dock is, the non-slip surface and the post at each slip to hold on to when you get in and out of a boat. We refurbished the launch ramp, too, and we’re open for fishing and recreation on Saturdays and Sundays from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn more and reserve a campsite at lakejennings.org

Every pump, tank, pipe, valve, hydrant and meter in our infrastructure is on a cycle decades of operation and maintenance, and then planning, designing and installing its replacement. Our goal is to extend the operations phase of the cycle as long as possible through regular and preventive maintenance. Learn more about the infrastructure cycle and our investments in a safe and reliable water supply at hwd.com/infrastructure/. #InfrastructureWeek

Our hearts go out to those impacted by the Valley Fire and the other fires that continue to devastate many parts of California and the western United States. We also want to say thank you to the firefighters and first responders who are working nonstop to protect our communities. As we enter peak fire season, we wanted to share the practice of firescaping, which is the term used for landscape principles that may reduce the risk and spread of wildfires around your home.