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Gary Croucher-Board Chair-San Diego County Water Authority-Primary

Local Water Agencies to Receive $44.4 Million Rebate

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I’m so pleased report that yesterday the Water Authority’s Board of Directors voted to distribute a rebate of $44.4 million to its 24 member agencies across the region after receiving a check for that amount from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal damages and interest.

The rebate resulted from the Water Authority’s decade-long rate case litigation in state Superior Court seeking to compel MWD to set legal rates and repay overcharges. The Water Authority won several critical issues in cases covering 2011-2014 and was deemed the prevailing party, which means the agency is also owed legal fees and charges in addition to the recent damages and interest payment from MWD.

The court rulings will also help avoid future overcharges and thereby minimize future disputes over MWD’s unlawful Water Stewardship Rate for transporting the Water Authority’s independent water supplies through MWD facilities. Those charges – if they had continued – would have cost San Diego County residents more than $500 million over the life of the Water Authority’s water delivery contract with MWD.

This day has been a long time coming. We never wanted to litigate these issues – but if we had not had the courage to do so, MWD would still be collecting the illegal fees and we would not have money to give back to local retail water agencies across the region.

MWD Overcharges-Rate Case-Rebates-Member Agencies

Water Authority Board Supports Regional Potable Reuse Projects

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors today unanimously approved a formal resolution reaffirming its longstanding support for potable reuse and water recycling projects developed by local member agencies across the region.

“Projects such as Pure Water San Diego, Pure Water Oceanside and the East County Advanced Water Purification Project are critical to the continued development of local water sources that help sustain the region’s 3.3 million residents and $245 billion economy,” said Water Authority Board Chair Gary Croucher.

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San Diego Will Have to Hope for a ‘March Miracle’ to Make Up for Lack of Rain

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Gary Robbins

It’s time to hope for a “March miracle.” We badly need rain and won’t get much — if any — over the next week.

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Water Authority to Split $44.4M Among Local Agencies After Win in Legal Battle With MWD

/in , , /by /Times of San Diegoby City News Service Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors Thursday announced a plan to distribute a rebate of $44.4 million to its 24 member agencies across the region.

They did so after receiving a check for that amount from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal damages and interest after a long legal battle.

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California Drought, Dry Conditions Causing Concern for Farms and Agriculture

/in , , /by /ABC10
Much of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley regions are seeing abnormally dry or drought-like weather so far in winter 2021.
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A Tiny Fish is on the Brink of Extinction. Does it Matter that Another Just Like It is Thriving?

/in , , /by /WHYY (Philadelphia)by Jad Sleiman

California’s tiny delta smelt is not a terribly impressive fish at first glance, and not really at second glance either. It’s about the length and width of a finger, silvery and kind of see-through – looks a bit like a sardine.

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Oceanside Gets $1M Federal Grant to Protect, Restore Wetlands

/in , , /by /FOX 5 San Diegoby City News Service

A wetland enhancement project in south Oceanside has been selected as the recipient of a $1 million federal grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, it was announced Thursday.

The award was issued through the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant program, which funds projects that protect, restore and enhance coastal wetland ecosystems.

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Mexico Says It Fixed the Tijuana River Sewage Problem. It’s Partly True

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer and Vicente Calderón

Like a giant garbage disposal, three huge new green pipes sit on Mexico’s side of the border, shredding trash in the Tijuana River that would otherwise jam this critical piece of th­­e city’s wastewater system that caused spills on the United States side.

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More Than 25m Drink from the Worst US Water Systems, with Latinos Most Exposed

/in , /by /The Guardianby Emily Holden, Caty Enders, Niko Kommenda and Vivian Ho

Millions of people in the US are drinking water that fails to meet federal health standards, including by violating limits for dangerous contaminants. Latinos are disproportionately exposed, according to the Guardian’s review of more than 140,000 public water systems across the US and county-level demographic data. Water systems in counties that are 25% or more Latino are violating drinking water contamination rules at twice the rate of those in the rest of the country.

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California Must Face Water Challenge in Federal Court

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Maya Earls

The Department of Justice can proceed with its claims that California violated state law when it changed its water quality control plan for the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta system in federal court, the Ninth Circuit ruled.

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