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Agencies Develop Plan to Take Advantage of Snow Levels and Refill OC Basin

The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) is facilitating a water agreement that will bring surplus snowmelt and storm runoff from Northern California to Orange County and give the Groundwater Basin a chance to rebound from historic lows after the drought. Known as a cyclic storage agreement, the arrangement between MWDOC, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and Orange County Water District (OCWD) will recharge the Basin to its highest level since 2007 and ensure the Orange County Basin is healthy enough to stave off another drought.

Metropolitan Water District Has Paid Almost $88M to Get Out of Risky Swap Deals

The agency that supplies water to most of Southern California has paid tens of millions of dollars since 2008 to exit risky and complex financial deals it made before the Great Recession hit. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California entered two dozen interest-rate swap deals, which, in a convoluted way, aimed to stabilize debt interest rates, but amount to bets on the way interest rates will go. If interest rates move one direction, the swap becomes an asset. If they move the other direction, it becomes a liability.

Documentary On Man’s 116-Mile Walk Around Salton Sea To Be Screened At Oceanside Film Fest

Randy Brown became the first person to hike the 116-mile perimeter of the Salton Sea in June 2015. Now Brown’s hike, which he completed during 105 to 110-degree weather, and the problems the sea is facing are the subject of a documentary that is set to debut at the Oceanside Film Festival on Monday.The Salton Sea is California’s largest lake. The sea, which is located in both Imperial and Riverside counties, is shrinking and thus exposing the lakebed that turns into dust when the wind blows.

OPINION: Legislature, Don’t Mess With California’s Water Umpire

As California water becomes an increasingly precious and contentious resource, the state needs an umpire with the power to enforce laws against illegal diversions and protect the rights of the public and others with enforceable claims to state water. That decisionmaker must be both muscular and fair. There is indeed such a water umpire in California.

OPINION: Ratepayers Lose When Water Districts Choose Courts Over Collaboration

After seven years and about $40 million in legal costs stemming from lawsuits filed by the San Diego County Water Authority, no ruling to date will noticeably change local water bills or address a single important regional water challenge. All ratepayers lose the longer the Water Authority’s fighting drags on. The court process is not entirely over for these initial cases brought against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the system that provides about 80 percent of San Diego County’s water supply.

OPINION: Why San Diego Should Stay The Course In Water Agency Litigation

The San Diego County Water Authority in June won substantial victories in a state Court of Appeals decision on rates set by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) that will affect how much everyone in this region pays for water. These victories are potentially worth more than $1 billion for San Diego ratepayers. While that seems like a lot of money — and no doubt it is — there are still billions more at stake, which is why the water authority must continue to pursue this litigation on behalf of San Diego County ratepayers.

Making Water Conservation a Way of Life in San Diego

Earlier this month, I attended a meeting of the San Diego Conservation Action Committee on California’s plan to make water conservation a way of life, and was disappointed to hear a familiar refrain from our regional water wholesaler, the San Diego County Water Authority: Why is the state asking us to conserve water when we can build our way out of our water supply woes? It was a position that the Water Authority took at the height of one of the worst droughts California has ever seen.

Water Quality Improves in San Diego County Watersheds: Report

Water quality in San Diego County’s dozen watersheds improved overall in 2016 for the first time in three years, San Diego Coastkeeper reported Tuesday. In its 2016 San Diego County Water Quality Report, the environmental organization rated two of the watersheds to be of good quality — the San Luis Rey River in the North County and Rose Creek in San Diego. Most of the others were rated as fair. “Of course, a single year of overall better water quality readings does not mean San Diego’s water will keep improving,” said Meredith Meyers, Coastkeeper’s lab manager.

Pump It Up: Water Officials Looking for Offers to Build a Hydro Storage Plant at the San Vicente Reservoir

The San Diego County Water Authority wants to find somebody to develop an energy storage facility at the San Vicente Reservoir, nestled among the Cuyamaca Mountains near Lakeside. And officials are not only confident they can find a number of potential candidates willing to fully develop the project, they expect to entertain proposals in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. “That’s depending on the size of this facility and the configuration,” said Kelly Rodgers, the energy program manager for the Water Authority, which is working in partnership with the City of San Diego on the project.

San Diego County Water Authority Takes Rates Dispute To State Supreme Court

The San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) announced Monday it will take a long-running legal dispute over rates to the state Supreme Court. The decision comes just over a month after an appellate court issued what amounted to a split decision in the Water Authority’s case against the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California. The SDCWA has sued the MWD multiple times over rates, with the largest issue being how much the MWD was allowed to charge for transporting Colorado River water to San Diego.