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OMWD to Refund Customers $1.62 Million From Water Wholesalers

/in , , /by /Olivenhain Municipal Water District Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously voted at its November 17 meeting to refund $1.62 million to customers to reduce the impact of future water rate increases. The refund resulted from lawsuits filed by San Diego County Water Authority in 2010 and 2018, challenging the legality of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s water rates and charges and seeking payment for legal damages and interest.

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OMWD to Refund Customers $1.62 Million From Water Wholesalers

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Encinitas, Calif. — Olivenhain Municipal Water District’s Board of Directors unanimously voted at its November 17 meeting to refund $1.62 million to customers to reduce the impact of future water rate increases. The refund resulted from lawsuits filed by San Diego County Water Authority in 2010 and 2018, challenging the legality of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s water rates and charges and seeking payment for legal damages and interest.

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California, Arizona and Nevada in Talks on New Plan to Save Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Two and a half years after signing a deal aimed at averting a damaging crisis along the Colorado River, water officials from California, Arizona and Nevada are discussing plans to take even less water from the shrinking river and leave it in Lake Mead in an effort to prevent the reservoir from falling to dangerously low levels.

Representatives of water agencies from the three states said they are firming up the details of a deal that would leave an additional 500,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir next year, and the same amount again in 2023 — about double the quantity of water used annually by Las Vegas and the rest of southern Nevada.

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Gary Croucher-Board Chair-San Diego County Water Authority-Primary

$35.9 Million More Returned to Local Water Agencies, Drought Plan Activated

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I am so pleased to announce that the San Diego County Water Authority has distributed $35.9 million more to our 24 member agencies across the region as another piece of our successful rate case litigation. The current payments, combined with another set last February, add up to more than $80 million in rate-case payments we secured on behalf of our member agencies in 2021 as part of our ongoing effort to advocate for the San Diego region.

While the litigation was necessary to protect San Diego County ratepayers, we are looking forward and embracing the new spirit of collaboration at MWD under General Manager Adel Hagekhalil and Board Chair Gloria Gray as we focus on the challenges ahead with a united front. The Water Authority and MWD continue to seek resolution outside of court on remaining issues, and we are building a partnership to address challenging issues in Southern California such as water supply reliability, conservation, affordability, and climate change.

Current drought

One such challenge is the current drought. The Water Authority’s Board of Directors unanimously voted to activate Level 1 – Voluntary Conservation of our Water Shortage Contingency Plan in support of Governor Gavin Newsom’s efforts to sustain California after two record-dry years. This is the third time this century the plan has been activated due to recurring drought. The Governor extended his drought emergency declaration last month to cover the entire state and directed water suppliers to implement Water Shortage Contingency Plans, which are responsive to local supply-demand conditions.

As I have mentioned before, the San Diego region continues to have reliable water supplies due to decades of conservation efforts and ratepayer investments. But San Diegans have always stepped up when duty calls. I encourage residents and businesses to conserve water, avoid water waste, and take advantage of rebates to improve water-use efficiency indoors and outdoors. We offer numerous tools to make the most of every drop at www.watersmartsd.org.

Thank you for your continued investments in supply reliability and commitment to water efficiency that have helped to ensure we have enough water to meet the region’s needs both now and for the future, even in the face of climate change. I will continue to keep you updated on the latest drought news in the weeks and months ahead.

$35.9 Million More in MWD Overcharges Being Returned to Local Water Agencies

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October 28, 2021 – The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors today announced a plan to distribute $35.9 million to its 24 member agencies across the region after receiving a fund transfer from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal damages and interest.

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Gary Croucher-Board Chair-San Diego County Water Authority-Primary

Water Authority’s Ratepayer Protection Case Secures Additional $36 Million Recovery

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I am pleased to announce a decision by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Board of Directors to pay the San Diego County Water Authority damages and statutory interest for illegal water charges from 2015-2017, totaling about $36 million. MWD’s vote followed a California Court of Appeal decision upholding earlier rulings in favor of San Diego.

This payment will bring the Water Authority’s cash recovery on behalf of San Diego County water agencies and ratepayers to more than $80 million. An additional award of attorneys’ fees to the Water Authority, still on appeal, is expected to bring the cash recovery to almost $94 million for rates and charges set by the Los Angeles-based wholesaler over an 8-year period from 2010-2017. Adding in avoided rate increases when MWD stopped imposing the illegal rate, brings the total savings for San Diego County ratepayers to almost $140 million over the 10-year period at issue in the cases.

Collaboration with MWD

I want to thank General Manager Adel Hagekhalil, Chairwoman Gloria Gray and the entire MWD Board for taking this important step toward a more collaborative future. This provides exactly the kind of catalyst we need to resolve the remaining issues between our two agencies.

I also want to acknowledge the collaboration with our peers at MWD over the past several months, working together on the challenges we face including the severe drought conditions across California and how to maintain an affordable and reliable water supply for all of our collective member agencies and ratepayers.

The recovery aligns with the Water Authority’s focus on taking all actions necessary to protect our ratepayers and ensure affordable water rates for future generations. Litigation is never welcome or easy and it wasn’t in this case. But our Board felt there was too much at stake and that an independent tribunal was needed to address and resolve our respective concerns.

Ratepayer protection litigation

Announcement of these ratepayer benefits follows the Water Authority’s distribution seven months ago of a $44 million recovery from MWD for damages and interest in earlier 2011-2014 cases. The money – refunded to the Water Authority’s member agencies in proportion to their overpayments – also resulted from the Water Authority’s ratepayer protection litigation in state Superior Court and positioned its member agencies to reduce future regional water rate increases.

Importantly, the court rulings and guidance are also expected to help avoid future potential taxation of San Diego County ratepayers and minimize future disputes over MWD’s rates.

In February 2020, after the Court of Appeal ruled MWD’s “rate structure integrity” clause unconstitutional, MWD changed its rules to allow Water Authority member agencies to apply for benefits. As a result, the Water Authority’s Board of Directors voted to dismiss these issues from the litigation. Since then, the Water Authority has assisted its member agencies in obtaining nearly $500 million in MWD funding agreements including the City of San Diego’s Pure Water project, which is funded by rates paid by all MWD member agencies including the Water Authority.

The Water Authority is currently working collaboratively with MWD and its member agencies across Southern California to update MWD’s long-term water resource and financial plans. MWD’s Integrated Resources Plan, known as the IRP, will be supplemented by a new “One Water” plan intended to represent the agency’s roadmap for the future and focusing on enhanced collaboration with its member agencies.

Water Authority’s Ratepayer Protection Case Secures Additional $36 Million Recovery

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Sept. 30, 2021 – The San Diego County Water Authority’s Chair today announced a decision by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s Board of Directors to pay damages and statutory interest for illegal water charges from 2015-2017, totaling about $36 million. The vote followed a California Court of Appeal decision upholding earlier rulings in favor of San Diego.

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A Bitter Dispute Ends as California Water Agencies Pledge Cooperation on Colorado River

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

Two years ago, a pact to safeguard the West’s shrinking water supplies took effect at a ceremony high above the Colorado River.

On a terrace overlooking Hoover Dam, water officials from seven states that rely on the river had gathered to sign a deal in hopes of preventing reservoirs from falling to critically low levels.

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Could LA Water Recycling Be a Miracle for Parched West?

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Jeremy P. Jacobs

With severe drought strangling the West, the country’s largest water provider has embarked on a multibillion-dollar project that could help them cope with increasingly frequent shortages exacerbated by climate change.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California wants to recycle Los Angeles’ wastewater, creating a new supply stream that would significantly reduce the city’s reliance on imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

It would mark a new paradigm in Western water infrastructure. Instead of the dam-building and constructing massive pipelines and aqueducts to connect far-flung rivers to cities, Metropolitan’s proposal focuses on producing “new” water locally. And it seeks to utilize what has historically been wasted; Los Angeles’ wastewater is currently treated and discharged into the Pacific Ocean.

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Column: You Do Know That, in Most Cases, Bottled Water Is Just Tap Water?

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby David Lazarus

Since the start of the pandemic, thirsty Americans have drowned their sorrow in bottled water. Even before the coronavirus blew into all our lives, bottled water was, and has been for years, the No. 1 beverage in the United States, surpassing soft drinks as the choice of increasingly health-conscious consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated things.

According to a recent report from the International Bottled Water Assn., sales of bottled water exploded last year “as consumers stocked up in order to stay home amid the coronavirus crisis.”

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