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Customers of the Santa Fe Irrigation District, who saw their water bills go up by an average of 9 percent on June 1, face another rate hike of as much as 15.8 percent on Jan. 1, 2017. At its meeting on Nov. 17, the board of directors of the district, which serves customers in Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch, will consider the second installment of a three-year rate plan approved in May. That plan calls for three annual rate increases, averaging 9 percent per year.

The Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors approved $44 million in financial incentives for four water recycling projects Tuesday that will treat and deliver nearly 5.3 billion gallons of water a year, officials announced. The city of Torrance and Eastern Municipal Water District each will enter an agreement for large-scale recycling projects, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will handle two other projects to use recycled water for irrigation and industrial purposes. MWD will provide as much as $44 million in incentives for the projects over the next 25 years, under the four agreements.

For all the water saving tactics San Diego County residents have employed, they’re not helping nature take care of her own. This photograph, taken the morning of Oct. 7, shows all too acutely what drought means to Fallbrook. This is what’s left of the man-made pond in Los Jilgueros Preserve. Acquired by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy in 1990, plentiful rains once filled the preserve pond so that water flowed from it across a concrete dip in the major trail through the interior, making the trail nearly impassable.

A rebate program that will make already discounted rain barrels even less expensive for area residents will be available through the end of this year, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Monday. The 50-gallon barrels will be available at the Solana Center for $90, discounted from $149, according to the water authority. Until Dec. 31, purchasers can also get a $75 rebate through the SoCalWaterSmart program. The offer will be reduced to $35 on Jan. 1, according to the agency. “Water stored in rain barrels can gradually be released into landscapes between rains,” said Joni German, water resources specialist for the water authority.

As a former Huntington Beach mayor, past member of the Coastal Commission and a 52-year resident of Huntington Beach, I am supporting Poseidon’s desalination project in Huntington Beach. I have followed the project for all of the years that it has been talked about, studied, researched and have come to the conclusion that it must be supported. My support comes from a layperson’s knowledge of the project. First, Southern California has been through five years of drought, with the prospect of a sixth year. Water is an absolute necessity when we look at our future.