You are now in San Diego County category.

For the past few months, we’ve used the KPBS Drought Tracker to tell you how much rain and snow El Niño has been bringing to California. Now that we’ve reached the end of what turned out to be a fairly average wet season, where does California’s drought stand now?

We’ve limited our focus to California’s wettest months, which stretch from October to the beginning of April. We could still see some rain in coming weeks, but California’s traditionally defined wet season is now over.

The Santa Fe Irrigation District is going through its rate-setting process right now and an eight-page notice was recently sent out to all customers on what is being proposed and how they can participate in the process — including how to oppose the increases.

Santa Fe Irrigation District Manager Michael Bardin visited the Rancho Santa Fe Association board meeting on April 7 as the district continues its outreach process on the proposed raise in rates.

Crews free man after getting arm stuck in water pipe.

Over the past several months, the San Diego County Water Authority joined with its member agencies and local civic and business groups to advocate for state policies that reflected local water supply investments and conditions. The proposed modifications were designed to achieve important statewide water management goals in a more equitable and sustainable manner, allow communities to receive the benefits of their investments in water supply reliability and minimize unnecessary impacts to ratepayers.

Few people would be shocked to learn that the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District is once again preparing to raise water rates and property taxes for the next two years, given its history of similar increases. What alarms me most is that Metropolitan is doing so using methodology that a state Superior Court judge has ruled illegal to collect money that it does not need using a process that lacks public transparency.