Two of the San Diego County Water Authority’s smallest customers — avocado and citrus farming communities in North County tired of paying ever-rising water rates to urbanize San Diego — were prepared to leave quietly in search of cheaper water elsewhere.
On Nov. 16, the Santa Fe Irrigation District Board of Directors approved an approximate 5% rate increase effective January 1, 2024.
According to a news release, the increase does not reflect any increase in costs from Santa Fe Irrigation District; it is the full pass-through of costs from the San Diego County Water Authority, the region’s wholesale water provider.
The Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) General Manager, Jake Willey, has been appointed to represent RMWD on the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) Board of Directors. Wiley is assigned to serve on the Water Authority Administrative and Finance, and Engineering and Operations committees.
Wiley’s appointment stems from the retirement of former General Manager Tom Kennedy, who served as the district’s representative on the Water Authority Board for nine years during his tenure with the district.
California’s biggest water supplier is hurting for cash this year as the recent record-breaking rainy winter means its customers need to buy less water.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is facing a more than $300 million budget shortfall – about a quarter of its normal revenue from selling water.
What began as a brash legal complaint that millions of ratepayers faced historic damage ended with a fizzle this week as the San Diego County Water Authority voted in closed session to settle a lawsuit filed earlier this year.
The water authority board approved an agreement to end its litigation challenging the plan by the Fallbrook Public Utilities District and Rainbow Municipal Water District to leave the broader agency and join the Eastern Municipal Water District of Riverside County.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s board voted Thursday to drop a lawsuit the water seller filed in August against two of its customer water districts that are trying to leave and the agency that gave them permission to do so.
After a closed-door deliberation, the Water Authority publicly directed its lawyers to enter into a settlement agreement with Rainbow Municipal Water District, Fallbrook Public Utilities District and the Local Agency Formation Commission or LAFCO – the boundary referees that agreed to allow two of the Water Authority’s customers to divorce from their water seller.
Oceanside residents will see a trifecta of utility rate hikes in 2024 under water, sewer and trash fee increases approved unanimously Wednesday by the Oceanside City Council.
Water rates will go up 6 percent on Jan. 1, 2024, and another 6 percent in January 2025. The hike reflects higher rates passed along by the Metropolitan Water District and the San Diego County Water Authority, who import the supply to Oceanside, and higher costs for labor, materials, supplies and utilities.
A Pacific storm that was expected to drench San Diego County late Friday and early Saturday is turning away from the region and won’t deliver rain that’s needed to help reduce the risk of wildfires ahead of Santa Ana winds next week, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters originally thought the system would drop about 0.70 inches of rain west of Interstate 15 and as much as an inch in the valleys, foothills and mountains to the east.
The binational agency that operates the aging federal wastewater treatment plant at the U.S.-Mexico border said declaring the sewage crisis an emergency to expedite the facility’s expansion may no longer be effective.
But the California Coastal Commission said Wednesday that all steps are needed to remedy the uncontrolled discharge of raw sewage and other pollutants as soon as possible.
Oceanside residents will soon see a double-digit increase over the next two years after two years of no increase to their rates at all.
“Anytime we see something like this come forward, especially when cost-of-living generally is going up across-the-board and people are really struggling to make ends meet, this is considered very heavily,” Councilmember Eric Joyce said.
Councilmembers unanimously approved the new rates Wednesday.
