Chula Vista, Calif. – Sweetwater Authority is now accepting entries for its 2023 High School Photo Contest. Now in its 15th year,
the contest aims to showcase and celebrate through photography how safe, reliable water service supports everything we do.
Spring Valley, Calif. – At its January meeting, the Otay Water District board of directors elected new officers to lead the District’s board for 2023.
The board elected director Mark Robak, who represents division five, as president. The board also elected board member Jose Lopez, serving division four, as vice president and Ryan Keyes, serving division two, as treasurer.
Robak’s election as president follows two years of board leadership under past president Tim Smith. Robak will serve as president through January 2024 when officer elections will again take place. He has served on the District’s board for 18 years since January 2005.
Chula Vista, Calif. – At its January 19 meeting, the South Bay Irrigation District (SBID) appointed Manny Delgado to represent residents living in SBID Division 3. As part of his duties, Delgado will also serve on the Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority.
Delgado replaces former Director Jose Preciado, who resigned from the seat in November 2022 when he was elected to the City of Chula Vista City Council. He will serve until the next General Election for the South Bay Irrigation District, which will occur on November 5, 2024. At that time, a director will be elected to a four-year term.
At today’s Olivenhain Municipal Water District board meeting, Christy Guerin assumed the position of president. Ms. Guerin will serve as president for the 2023-2024 term.
Initially appointed to the board in 2011, Ms. Guerin represents Division 3 of OMWD’s service area, which includes portions of the cities of Encinitas and Solana Beach. In addition to her duties as president, Ms. Guerin will also serve on OMWD’s Personnel Committee, Facilities Committee, Public Outreach and Conservation Committee, and Public Policy Committee.
Ms. Guerin is a ten-year veteran of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and a former council member and mayor of the City of Encinitas. In her capacity with the city, she served on the San Dieguito Water District board and also represented the city on the San Diego Association of Governments’ board. In addition, Ms. Guerin served as OMWD’s representative to the San Diego County Water Authority board from 2014 to 2020.
“With the ongoing multi-year drought, water supply reliability and the mitigation of impacts to our ratepayers will be a top priority for 2023. I look forward to leading the district through these times while staying true to the district’s core values,” said Ms. Guerin.
Larry Watt was thanked and honored during the meeting for his service as president for the 2021-2022 term. This marked the third time Mr. Watt filled the president position, having previously served in that role for the 2013-2014 term as well as the 2017-2018 term.
(Editor’s Note: Olivenhain Municipal Water District is a public agency providing water, wastewater services, recycled water, hydroelectricity, and operation of Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve. Organized in 1959, OMWD currently serves approximately 87,000 customers over 48 square miles in northern San Diego County. The OMWD is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across San Diego County.)
The San Diego County Water Authority’s First Aqueduct will be shut down periodically over the next three months for maintenance projects to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for the region. Two shutdowns on the First Aqueduct are scheduled from January through March, when portions of the aqueduct will be relined, along with other maintenance.
The Water Authority and its member agencies are coordinating to minimize impacts to residents and businesses, while servicing pipelines that are more than 65 years old.
Customers of these affected retail agencies during the Jan. 23-Feb. 1 shutdown should check with their local water utility if they have questions about localized impacts: Fallbrook Public Utility District, Rainbow Municipal Water District, Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District, Vallecitos Water District, Valley Center Municipal Water District, Vista Irrigation District, and the Yuima Municipal Water District.
“Work to proactively upgrade and maintain our water delivery system in coordination with our member agencies ensures the continued safe and reliable supply that serves the region’s 3.3 million residents and our $268 billion economy,” said Eva Plajzer, the Water Authority’s director of operations and maintenance. “Taking care of this critical infrastructure during the shutdown season extends the life of the aqueduct and reduces the cost of replacement.”
Maintenance work on pipelines is scheduled during low-demand periods to minimize impacts on water service.
The other scheduled shutdown on the First Aqueduct is February 27 to March 8, which will also impact the Helix Water District and the cities of San Diego, Poway and Ramona.
The historic First Aqueduct was constructed in the 1940s with Pipeline 1 and in the 1950s with Pipeline 2. On November 28, 1947, the first Colorado River water flowed south from Riverside County for 71 miles into the City of San Diego’s San Vicente Reservoir via the First Aqueduct.
The Water Authority’s Asset Management Program is a key element of providing safe and reliable water supplies to the region. The agency continually assesses and inspects its 310 miles of large-diameter pipelines, which provide treated and untreated water to 24 member agencies in San Diego County. The program is widely recognized for pioneering work – including a patented inspection device – that promotes water affordability by avoiding costly unplanned disruptions in service.
As assets age, the Water Authority proactively replaces and repairs them to minimize impacts to member agencies and the public. Investments in the latest inspection technologies, including electromagnetic scanning, robotic inspections and 3D tunnel inspections help the Water Authority’s asset management team detect defects in pipelines and related facilities. Identifying potential issues early avoids more costly fixes later.
For more information about pipeline management, go to: www.sdcwa.org/projects-programs/programs/asset-management/.
Fast action by the San Diego County Water Authority and its partners is helping maintain water service in Tijuana after problems with the city’s aqueduct emerged in December.
Emergency water deliveries started last week after a coordinated effort between the Water Authority, Otay Water District, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The typical multi-month approval process was compressed into a few days to avoid additional water supply shortages in Tijuana.
San Diego County Water Authority Board Member Jim Madaffer has been elected vice chair of the Colorado River Board of California (CRB), which represents California in river management discussions with other Basin states, federal agencies, tribes, and Mexico.
Madaffer, the Water Authority’s CRB representative since 2019, will serve a four-year term as vice chair following his election on January 11 during the CRB meeting in Ontario. He will serve alongside Imperial Irrigation District Board Vice President JB Hamby, who was elected chair.
“I look forward to working with Chair Hamby and the rest of the Colorado River Board to both protect California’s water supplies during these challenging times and to work collaboratively to keep the river flowing for all users,” said Madaffer, a former chair of the Water Authority Board. “It is essential that California agencies unite to uphold the Law of the River as we seek solutions with the widest possible benefits.”
Established in 1937, CRB consists of agency representatives from the Water Authority, IID, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Coachella Valley Water District, Palo Verde Irrigation District, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Additional representatives include the directors of the California Department of Water Resources and Department of Fish and Wildlife, along with two public representatives.
CRB’s role has been pivotal in protecting the state’s share of the river during this period when two decades of drought have caused a sharp supply/demand imbalance, leading to a severe decline in water levels in the river’s two main reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
Led by CRB, California has proposed conserving up to 400,000 acre-feet annually through 2026 to support the river. Though that conservation will not affect the San Diego region’s high-priority Quantification Settlement Agreement supplies, the region is continuing to take active steps to conserve as it has over the past three decades.
“The San Diego region is committed to doing our part to be good stewards of our water supplies,” said Water Authority Board Chair Mel Katz. “We also believe in working collaboratively with all stakeholders on the river, and Jim’s leadership on the Colorado River Board in his new role as vice chair will only advance those efforts.”
A series of storms bringing much needed rain to the San Diego region is also a reminder for residents and businesses to turn off irrigation systems when wet weather is predicted and for at least a week after significant rainfall.
While a series of atmospheric rivers is boosting Sierra snowpack and easing dry conditions statewide, there is still a long way to go to overcome three extremely dry years. Water-saving actions today can help conserve more of our most precious natural resource for when it’s needed most.
Vista, Calif. — The Vista Irrigation District board of directors elected Jo MacKenzie as its president and Richard Vasquez as its vice-president for 2023 at its annual organizational meeting. MacKenzie has served on the board of directors since December 1992. This will be the ninth time she has led the board since being elected. MacKenzie represents division 5, which includes northeast and southeast Vista, north Twin Oaks Valley and the Bennett area in the city of San Marcos.
December 15, 2022 – The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors today unanimously authorized an agreement with Poseidon Resources (Channelside) LP to make major upgrades to the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, as required by the state’s Ocean Plan Amendment. The new facilities ensure the plant will continue to meet California’s evolving standards for protecting marine life.
Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019