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Starting Monday, authorities in Tijuana and Rosarito will ration water for the next two months because of a limited supply, according to the Baja California Public Service Commission. Roughly 140,000 households and businesses in the border cities will go without water service for up to 36 hours every four days. The service disruptions will be spread throughout seven districts. Customers will receive a 24-hour notice whenever water services are shut off in their district, officials said.

Since the days of the Kumeyaay, survival in San Diego has depended on the availability of water. While blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, the fact remains we must rely upon outside sources to meet our water needs. The level of this dependency, however, is more a matter of resolve rather than circumstance. In the late 1990s, this situation reached a critical point when San Diego County found itself importing more than 90 percent of our water, and our primary supplier, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) in Los Angeles, was taking action that could reduce our water allocation by up to 50 percent.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors, who are also the board members of the San Diego County Sanitation District, ap­proved a joint powers agreement for the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. The supervisors’ 5-0 vote Oc­tober 30 also appointed Super­visor Dianne Jacob as the sani­tation district’s representative on the Joint Powers Authority board which will also include representatives from the Padre Dam Municipal Water District, the Helix Water District, and the City of El Cajon.