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Rates charged by the San Diego County Water Authority to its 24 member agencies in the region will increase 3.7 percent next year, according to a budget approved Thursday by the authority’s Board of Directors. The SDCWA said the rate hike is the smallest in the past decade. The Water Authority collects imported and locally generated water and sends it to local districts — the city of San Diego and Helix Water District, for example – – which sells the water to customers. Any amount of the increase passed on to customers will be determined by the local districts.

The heat wave hitting Southern California this week is one for the record books. Temperatures topped 100 in the valleys and 120 in the low desert. Death Valley hit 127 — seven degrees shy of the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet. The National Weather Service said temperatures in some low desert locations were “among the highest ever recorded.” The temperature hit 124 degrees on Tuesday in Ocotillo Wells — the highest reading ever recorded in San Diego County, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said the reading was two degrees above the previous high of 122, which was recorded in Borrego Springs on June 20, 2016.

The 1^st District Court of Appeal today issued a ruling in favor of the San Diego County Water Authority on key points in its lawsuits against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  The County Water Authority has charged that MWD rates charged are illegal. The case is expected to be appealed to the California Supreme Court, where if upheld it would mean a big win for San Diego County ratepayers.

 

A Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) Wednesday in a key rate case against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California. According to a statement released by the Water Authority, the court ruled MWD collected millions of dollars’ in illegal charges from ratepayers in San Diego. The Water Authority is also entitled to tens of thousands of acre-feet more water from the district than it had calculated, according to the ruling.

 

A $42 million project that doubled the capacity of an innovative groundwater desalination plant in Chula Vista is now complete, another big step for a region in dire need of diversification of its water supply. The expansion doubles the facility’s production of drinking water from 5 million gallons a day to 10 million by adding five new wells. The drought-resistant water source — brackish, or saline, groundwater that’s been cleaned using reverse-osmosis technology — will be shared evenly between the Sweetwater Authority and the city of San Diego, which split the costs of the project not covered by $31 million in state and federal grants.