Life during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of uncertainty and anxiety, but also a time of compromise and collaboration. We have all been asked to make sacrifices both big and small for the greater good — face masks, changing business operations, remote work, outdoor dining and countless other accommodations.
Public agencies — especially those that deliver an essential commodity like water — should operate in the same collaborative spirit to protect ratepayers and offer relief during the continuing economic fallout.
The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies have taken action to protect ratepayers by implementing strong cost-cutting strategies to limit rate increases without sacrificing a safe and reliable water supply or the ability to plan for the future.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-09-14 09:36:562020-09-17 09:45:07Opinion: Metropolitan Water District Can Do Better for Southern California Amid COVID
With the recession and the COVID-19 pandemic causing economic havoc nationally and across Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority has adopted several cost-cutting strategies to reduce rate increases and it’s asking the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to do the same.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-09-03 11:54:582020-09-03 11:54:58San Diego County Water Authority Seeks Rate Relief at MWD
As my two-year term as the Water Authority Board chair winds down, it’s my pleasure to update you on two important efforts that are underway for the betterment of the San Diego region.
First of all, our Board voted unanimously last week to spend a few more months discussing and assessing a study of a new regional water conveyance system to deliver our high-priority Colorado River supplies from the Imperial Valley. The work we’ve done over the past year shows the project would produce billions of dollars in potential savings over several decades – and we plan to use the next few months to outreach to stakeholder communities about this study, address questions raised in recent weeks and seek Board direction in November.
Ultimately, the questions are bigger than a new aqueduct – they are about how we sustain our economy and quality of life at a reasonable cost. A new multi-benefits conveyance system is one potential solution – but if not that, then we must grapple with equal intensity over whether it makes sense to pay ever-increasing costs (over which we have no control) to the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to deliver our water for generations, or whether a plan based mainly on local water generation is financially feasible.
The other big issue this month is related – my request that MWD adopt rate relief measures this fall that reduce our water costs. Put simply, despite the recession and the COVID-19 pandemic MWD has not enacted the same kind of rate relief as the Water Authority, which froze hiring, deferred non-essential projects and significantly reduced travel – among other steps. In the end, we limited rate increases to 4.8-4.9 % for 2021 – and more than 60% of that is directly attributable to MWD.
Now, we’re asking MWD to take a similar approach, recognizing that we’re all in this together. We aren’t prescribing the strategies for MWD. We’re just asking that the nation’s largest water agency help its customers, and we’re pledging that any rate relief MWD provides will be passed directly to our member agencies. You can view the letter I sent to MWD at www.sdcwa.org/support-rate-relief-mwd.
I invite you to help move this conversation forward by encouraging MWD to find meaningful cost savings this fall that are reflected in its budget. Please take a moment to do so at www.sdcwa.org/support-rate-relief-mwd by submitting a letter of support for rate relief.
View From The Chair represents the viewpoints of Jim Madaffer, Chair of the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Madaffer-Jim-Bio-Pic-1-primary-View-lt.jpg450845Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-09-03 11:30:092020-09-22 16:42:00Help Us Reduce Water Rates
With the recession and the COVID-19 pandemic causing economic havoc nationally and across Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority has adopted several cost-cutting strategies to reduce rate increases and it’s asking the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to do the same.
When the Water Authority’s Board of Directors approved its 2021 rates in June, it limited rate increases to 4.8-4.9% – and more than 60% of that rate increase is directly attributable to MWD. The Water Authority Board also directed staff to return this fall with any other cost savings, specifically, any pass-through savings from MWD.
Water rates and COVID-19
So far, MWD’s Board has directed agency staff to look for cost-cutting measures – but MWD staff is proposing not to offer further rate relief. Even though MWD is proposing to initiate cost-containment efforts to save $11.7 million in FY2021 (less than 0.6% of its budget), MWD’s September rate review memo recommends not to incorporate the savings into its budget and not to offer rate relief because it found member agencies “have not experienced significant [financial] impacts attributable to COVID-19.”
Water agencies face financial pressure
In reality, San Diego County and the nation continue to face a recession and double-digit unemployment, and many water agencies across Southern California are facing financial pressure due to unpaid bills by residents and their own efforts to provide rate relief.
In response to those unprecedented pressures, the Water Authority froze hiring, limited travel and training, and delayed equipment replacement, among other efforts.
“The Water Authority Board believes that it is important for all water suppliers, including MWD, to be recognized as part of the solution for Southern California ratepayers during this difficult time,” said Jim Madaffer, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “MWD has an opportunity to help millions of ratepayers by tightening its belt like the Water Authority and numerous other water agencies have already done.”
Nation’s largest water agency has opportunity to help ratepayers across Southern California
Madaffer wrote a letter to MWD’s Board chair this week encouraging the nation’s largest water agency to take additional cost-saving steps. One way MWD could benefit all member agencies would be to reduce its water transportation rates by $15 per acre-foot. This would trim MWD’s budget by about 1.3% and provide $24 million in savings to Southern California water agencies.
However, Madaffer said the Water Authority is open to other ways that MWD can cut costs and reduce rate increases.
“We want to be clear that it also is not our intention to impede in any way MWD’s ability to provide a safe and reliable water supply to its member agencies – to the contrary, we believe these cost savings may be achieved without having any material impact on service,” Madaffer said.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/water-authority-HQ-day-PRIMARY-2.jpg450845Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-09-03 10:32:162020-09-03 10:32:16San Diego County Water Authority Seeks Rate Relief at MWD
After almost 80 years of suckling the proverbial teat that brings fresh water from the Colorado River and Sierra Nevadas to San Diego, the local water manager is hatching a plan to unlatch.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-09-02 10:30:052020-09-08 17:12:19The Water Authority is Resurrecting its Pipe Dream – Again
The big kahuna of California water — Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — has stopped taking supplies from one Kern County groundwater bank because the water is heavily tainted with a cancer-causing agent that is pervasive in Central Valley’s aquifers. While only one banking program has been affected so far, the emergence of this issue could have huge implications for water storage and movement in the Central Valley.
A judge has awarded the San Diego County Water Authority $44.4 million in a final judgment of two lawsuits over rates paid to transport water supplies from 2011 to 2014.
The award, announced Friday, included $28.7 million in damages and interest to be paid by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which controls the transport of water from the Colorado River.
The Water Authority had worked for more than a decade to resolve the dispute, which concerned San Diego’s independent supply of water from the river that was carried by Metropolitan Water’s aqueducts and pipelines.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-08-17 10:36:542020-08-25 10:45:34Water Authority Awarded $44.4 Million in Long-Running Dispute with LA Agency
As you know, the Water Authority has been working for years to conclude lawsuits over rates set by the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – and this week, we have taken a big step forward with the entry of final judgment in two major cases.
Yesterday, a Superior Court judge has awarded the San Diego County Water Authority $44,373,872.29 for two cases covering rates paid by San Diego County ratepayers during 2011-2014. The award included $28,678.190.90 in damages for MWD’s breach of contract for the four years at issue, plus pre-and post-judgment interest. As these first two cases are finally concluded, the Water Authority is also working to narrow the scope of the remaining 2014, 2016 and 2018 cases (a 2017 case has already been dismissed).
Entry of final judgment caps a 10-year effort by the Water Authority Board of Directors on behalf of San Diego County ratepayers, proving once again our region is stronger together in charting our water future. While the damages and interest award is important, the entry of judgment will also help avoid future overcharges and thereby minimize future disputes based on rulings by the Court of Appeal. MWD’s improper charges – if they had continued – would have cost San Diego County residents more than $500 million over the life of the Water Authority’s water delivery contract with MWD.
The lawsuits generated other substantial benefits, such as requiring an increase in the Water Authority’s preferential rights to MWD water by approximately 100,000 acre-feet a year, equivalent to about twice the annual production of the $1 billion Carlsbad Desalination Project.
In February, the Water Authority’s Board of Directors voted to dismiss certain issues from the litigation after securing more than $350 million in local project subsidy benefits for the San Diego region, beginning late last year. In doing so, the Water Authority acknowledged the MWD Board action to stop imposing the district’s Water Stewardship Rate as a charge for transporting the Water Authority’s independent water supplies through MWD facilities, thus resolving for now that issue in future rate years. Consistent with the Water Authority Board’s direction, its attorneys are taking the steps necessary to narrow the litigation and have recently dismissed one case in its entirety.
As the lawsuits continue to wind down – which remains my personal goal – the Water Authority is working collaboratively with MWD member agencies across the district’s six-county service area to update MWD’s long-term water resource and financial planning. MWD’s Integrated Resources Plan, or IRP as it is called, will be its roadmap for the future, factoring in updated data and plans by many MWD member agencies who are working to develop their own local water supplies like the Water Authority and its member agencies have done over the past two decades and we will continue to do in the future.
View From The Chair represents the viewpoints of Jim Madaffer, Chair of the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Madaffer-Jim-Bio-Pic-1-primary-View-lt.jpg450845Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-08-14 12:03:132020-09-22 16:37:57Major Water Rate Case Victory; San Diego County is Stronger Together
A Superior Court judge has awarded the San Diego County Water Authority $44,373,872.29 in a final judgment for two cases covering rates paid by San Diego County ratepayers during calendar years 2011-2014. The award included $28,678,190.90 in damages for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s breach of contract for the four years at issue, plus pre-and post-judgment interest.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.png00Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-08-14 09:34:052020-08-19 20:11:53Final Judgment Entered in Favor of Water Authority in 2010-2012 Rate Litigation
A Superior Court judge has awarded the San Diego County Water Authority $44,373,872.29 in a final judgment for two cases covering rates paid by San Diego County ratepayers during calendar years 2011-2014. The award included $28,678,190.90 in damages for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s breach of contract for the four years at issue, plus pre-and post-judgment interest.
The Water Authority has worked for more than a decade to resolve disputes with MWD in cases filed from 2010-2018. In February, the Water Authority’s Board of Directors voted to dismiss certain issues from the litigation after securing more than $350 million in local project subsidy benefits for the San Diego region, beginning late last year. In doing so, the Water Authority also acknowledged the MWD Board action to stop imposing the district’s Water Stewardship Rate as a charge for transporting the Water Authority’s independent water supplies through MWD facilities, thus resolving for now that issue in future rate years. Consistent with the Water Authority Board’s direction, its attorneys are taking the steps necessary to narrow the litigation and have recently dismissed one case in its entirety.
“Entry of final judgment caps a 10-year effort by the Water Authority Board of Directors on behalf of San Diego County ratepayers, proving once again our region is stronger together in charting our water future,” said Jim Madaffer, chair of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors. “While the damages and interest award is important, the entry of judgment will also help avoid future overcharges and thereby minimize future disputes based on rulings by the Court of Appeal.”
As the lawsuits continue to wind down, the Water Authority is working collaboratively with MWD member agencies across the district’s six-county service area to update MWD’s long-term water resource and financial planning. MWD’s Integrated Resources Plan, or IRP, will be its roadmap for the future, factoring in updated data and plans by many MWD member agencies to develop local water supplies such as the Water Authority and its member agencies have done over the past two decades and will continue to do in the future.
In its judgment, the San Francisco Superior Court:
Determined that MWD breached the Exchange Agreement by including its Water Stewardship Rate in the transportation rates it charged to the Water Authority. Damages for the four years at issue are awarded in the amount of $28,678,190.90, plus pre- and post-judgment interest, bringing the grand total for these four years to almost $45 million. Such improper charges on the Exchange Agreement, if they had continued from MWD, would have cost San Diego County residents more than $500 million over the life of the Water Authority’s water delivery contract with MWD.
Acknowledged the required increase in the Water Authority’s preferential rights to MWD water by approximately 100,000 acre-feet a year, equivalent to about twice the annual production of the $1 billion Carlsbad Desalination Project. MWD had earlier complied with the appellate court ruling to this effect and corrected its records accordingly.
Confirmed that MWD had illegally barred the Water Authority from MWD’s demand management programs by the inclusion of an unlawful contract provision. MWD lifted the ban in response to the Court of Appeal ruling and has since that time approved nearly $500 million for water supply projects in San Diego County. The initial approvals of $350 million beginning late last year increased with the MWD Board’s approval in June of two more projects totaling an additional more than $115 million.
Granted declaratory relief that 1) the inclusion of the Water Stewardship Rate in MWD’s published wheeling rate and under the Exchange Agreement is unlawful and invalid; and 2) MWD’s “Rate Structure Integrity” clause barring the Water Authority from receiving demand management program benefits is invalid and unenforceable as an unconstitutional condition.
Ordered that a preemptory writ of mandate would issue, commanding MWD to enact only legal wheeling and transportation rates in the future.
The Court will retain continuing jurisdiction over the cases. A hearing will be held later this year to determine the prevailing party’s right to recover attorneys’ fees and costs.
With a judgment issued in the first two cases, the Water Authority is also working to narrow the scope of the remaining 2014, 2016 and 2018 cases (a 2017 case has already been dismissed).
“Like most court proceedings, it will take a little time to work through all the details,” said Water Authority Board Secretary Christy Guerin, who led the most recent litigation settlement efforts for the agency. “We recognize that MWD is at an important crossroads, and we look forward to working with the other MWD member agencies on charting a future course to ensure both a reliable Southern California water supply and MWD’s fiscal sustainability.”
Click here for more information about the rate case litigation, including the final judgment in the 2010 and 2012 cases.
https://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SDCWA-building-at-night-WNN-primary.jpg450845Mike Leehttps://www.waternewsnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/water-news-network.pngMike Lee2020-08-14 08:56:522020-08-14 09:26:51Final Judgment Entered in Favor of Water Authority in 2010-2012 Rate Litigation
