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Severe Drought Declared

“Most of California is in severe drought.”

That was the dire statement from Amy Rocha, communications manager for the West Basin Municipal Water District. Her agency wholesales imported water purchased from Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The agency provides water to nearly 1 million people in 17 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County, including Malibu. Rocha emphasized LA County is in “extreme drought,” adding, “Our water supplies are critically low.”

OMWD to Refund Customers $1.62 million

Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously voted at its Nov. 17 meeting to refund $1.62 million to customers to reduce the impact of future water rate increases. The refund resulted from lawsuits filed by San Diego County Water Authority in 2010 and 2018, challenging the legality of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s water rates and charges and seeking payment for legal damages and interest.

Water News Network Website Honored

The Water News Network was honored with awards from several organizations recently, including the Public Relations Society of America.

On November 18, the WNN received a Bronze Bernays Award of Merit in the websites category from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) San Diego/Imperial County chapter. It is the second consecutive year the WNN website has received this award.

Here are the Best Mid-Size Companies to Work for in San Diego County

The Top Workplaces survey identified these companies as the best mid-size companies in 2021 included the San Diego County Water Authority.

Top Workplace 2021-San Diego County Water Authority

About the Top Workplaces survey

The employee engagement survey of 24 questions gathers responses regarding issues relating to workplace culture:· Alignment – where the company is headed, its values, cooperation, effective meetings· Coaching – managers care about concerns, are helpful, encourage employee development· Connection – employees feel appreciated, work is meaningful, working at full potential, feel informed· Engagement – productivity, retention, recruiting· Leadership – confidence in company leaders· Performance – execution, open-mindedness, innovation, clued-in leadership· The Basics – pay, benefits, work/life flexibility, training, expectationsEmployers that score high enough are recognized as Top Workplaces. Employers are ranked within size groups to accurately compare results. Energage also determines special award winners based on standout scores on specific survey topics.Wonder why a particular company was not on the list? Perhaps it chose not to participate, or it did not score well enough in the survey. Energage sometimes disqualifies employers based on questionable results detected through statistical tests it runs to ensure organizations are accurately administering the survey.

Burst Water Main Floods Freeway, Forces Closure of I-5 Downtown

Drivers heading into downtown San Diego faced a traffic nightmare Monday morning after two water mains burst Sunday, leaving a section of northbound Interstate 5 under water.

Starting around 11 p.m., all traffic on north I-5 was being diverted to north state Route 163. Crews were working to pump water out of the flooded lanes but no estimates were given as to when the freeway lanes would be driveable.

Santa Fe Irrigation District Approves Rate Increase

The Santa Fe Irrigation District Board of Directors approved a scheduled 3% rate adjustment at its November meeting, according to a news release. The increase will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

The scheduled rate adjustment was a part of the board’s three-year rate structure approved in January 2020. Last November, the board voted to freeze any rate increases for 2021 and use reserves to absorb the 4.8% San Diego County Water Authority increases, citing fiscal management and impacts of the pandemic on the region and customers.

Trout Season Opens at Lake Jennings

The 2021 trout season opens Friday at Lake Jennings, the Helix Water District reservoir in Lakeside. The lake is one of San Diego County’s hot spots for trout fishing, ranked second in the county by SDFish.com. The first delivery of 2,000 pounds of trout traveled 913 miles from Idaho in an oxygenated truck to stock the lake.

OMWD to Refund Customers $1.62 Million From Water Wholesalers

Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously voted at its November 17 meeting to refund $1.62 million to customers to reduce the impact of future water rate increases. The refund resulted from lawsuits filed by San Diego County Water Authority in 2010 and 2018, challenging the legality of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s water rates and charges and seeking payment for legal damages and interest.

County Supervisors Support More Public Access to Lakes, Reservoirs

The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to direct the Department of Parks and Recreation to work with outside agencies to keep regional lakes and reservoirs indefinitely open for recreational activities.

Supervisor Joel Anderson, who made the proposal, said keeping such resources open “is vital to the health and wellness of those who live in the Back Country.”

San Diego’s Project Clean Water Wins Gold MarCom Award

Project Clean Water, San Diego County’s initiative dedicated to protecting water quality won a gold award at the MarCom Awards, an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communication. The award is for the “52 Ways to Love Your Water” video that was created as part of the 5-year county-wide public education and outreach initiative around stormwater pollution and water quality.