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Southern California’s largest water district has signed a multimillion deal to buy several sprawling islands far north in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, drawing criticism for giving the powerful district a stronghold in the vital water hub, officials said Monday.

The deal worth $175 million will put the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California in ownership of 20,000 acres in the delta, a source of water for millions of residents throughout the state and some of the nation’s most valuable farmland.

 

This is the time of year when water utilities set their rates, which almost inevitably go up. But this year, the rate hikes are likely to be higher than usual, as water utilities cope with the unexpected impact of mandatory conservation on their budgets.

On April 12, Metropolitan’s board of directors is scheduled to vote on its prices for 2017 and 2018. These prices will be passed down to customers like the San Diego County Water Authority. In turn, the Water Authority sells to retail agencies that sell to the ultimate residential, business and agricultural customers.

Crews briefly turned off the water supply for a line serving all of 4S Ranch to help rescue a worker who somehow got his arm and hand stuck inside the valve of a 48-inch water line.

The Metropolitan Water District worker had his arm stuck in the water release pipe for nearly two hours while crews worked to free him, San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) Capt. Amador said.

Just about every year, the San Diego County Water Authority uses ratepayer funds to bus local citizens to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s final budget meeting in downtown Los Angeles. They are customers who have ended up with some unfortunate misimpressions about Metropolitan’s financial practices and proposed budget, and they come to urge Metropolitan to collect less revenue than what is proposed. And then the bus goes home.