It’s been a month since Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to sue the Trump administration to block stepped-up federal water diversions from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to agribusiness and urban areas further south.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The San Diego County Water Authority’s board offered Thursday to settle a long-running dispute over rates with the giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
For decades now, the Metropolitan Water District headquartered in Los Angeles has been selling water to San Diego County, water that’s mostly piped in from the Colorado River. From the perspective of the San Diego County Water Authority, it hasn’t been a very good deal for San Diego.
Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer says San Diego has been paying higher rates, in part to subsidize other water agencies. He hopes that bringing an end to the lawsuits will ultimately help consumers.
Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer tells KUSI News Reporter Sasha Foo about the offer the Water Authority has made to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that would end litigation between the two wholesale water suppliers. Screenshot: KUSI News/Water Authority
The offer asks MWD to make $140 million in payments to San Diego County water customers to cover claims from 2011 through 2020 and, in the future, follow new procedures in setting water rates.
The Water Authority delivers wholesale water supplies to 24 retail water providers, including cities, special districts and a military base in San Diego County.
Watch the entire video report here: https://www.kusi.com/water-authority-offers-settlement-to-end-mwd-litigation/
For days of infamy — Pearl Harbor and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — December has a handful. In this list of national anguish two anniversaries of deaths loom. One hundred and six years ago: on Dec. 2, 1913, Congress passed 43-25 (with 29 abstentions) a law drowning Hetch Hetchy, the natural twin of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, in order to provide water and power to San Francisco. On Dec. 24, 1914, John Muir died.
After several hours of rain Tuesday morning, water rushed through a section of Chollas Creek in the City Heights neighborhood.
The area is fenced off now. But in the coming years, City Heights residents, who have some of the fewest park access in the county, will be able to enjoy the creek up-close thanks to a $3.5 million grant from the California Natural Resources Agency.
The Sierra snowpack is off to its best start in years, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Thanks to all the recent storms, it’s at 109 percent of where it should be for this time of year. Last year, it was at 82 percent of average.
Border Patrol agents say human smugglers are exploiting the Tijuana River Valley culvert system meant to drain raw sewage at the U.S.-Mexico border; putting agents, emergency responders and migrants at risk for drowning and exposure to highly toxic substances.
The leadership of two water districts have taken the unprecedented step of voting to begin the process of detaching from the San Diego County Water Authority — a move they say will save their ratepayers millions of dollars.
The votes by the boards of the Fallbrook Public Utility District and the Rainbow Municipal Water District this month begins a formal process that could take 18 months or longer and potentially involve a countywide vote.
On a warm November morning, John Durand squints over the stern of a small research boat, and gestures toward gray-blue water, and the chaotic tangles of tube-like tule reeds.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s board offered Thursday to settle a long-running dispute over rates with the giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The offer, made following a special board meeting, asks MWD to make $140 million in payments to San Diego County water customers to cover claims from 2011 through 2020 and, in the future, follow new, transparent procedures in setting water rates.
“The Water Authority’s proposal would benefit residents across San Diego County, enhance understanding of how MWD’s rates are set, and provide more opportunities for our agencies to collaborate in ways that would benefit water management across the Southwest,” said Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer.
He said the offer “reflects our board’s strong desire to work with MWD without being under a cloud of litigation, while protecting the interests of San Diego County residents.”
After initially balking, the Salton Sea Authority board of directors on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution supporting Imperial County’s declaration of an emergency at the fast-shrinking sea.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
