In a move set to transform regional agriculture, the Regional CropSWAP program, originally initiated by the Rancho California Water District, announced its expansion into neighboring counties with the partnership of Fallbrook Public Utility District, Rainbow Municipal Water District, city of Oceanside, Valley Center Municipal Water District and city of Escondido.
With the new year, Fallbrook residents are seeing a reduction in their water rates as a result of the detachment from the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) — the so-called “water divorce.”
The Rainbow Municipal Water District (RMWD) General Manager, Jake Willey, has been appointed to represent RMWD on the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) Board of Directors. Wiley is assigned to serve on the Water Authority Administrative and Finance, and Engineering and Operations committees.
Wiley’s appointment stems from the retirement of former General Manager Tom Kennedy, who served as the district’s representative on the Water Authority Board for nine years during his tenure with the district.
Customers in two North County water districts overwhelmingly voted to leave a regionwide agency for a simple reason: They can get less-expensive water elsewhere.
But the broader dynamics that led to this moment are complex — and are expected to increase costs for years to come for ratepayers remaining with the San Diego County Water Authority, an umbrella organization currently with 24 member agencies.
The next time a member of a regional water agency wants to secede, a majority of voters across the entire wider district will have to approve the change under a bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Late last week the governor signed Assembly Bill 399, legislation authored by Encinitas Democrat Tasha Boerner and originally designed to thwart an effort by water officials in Fallbrook and Bonsall from divorcing from the San Diego County Water Authority.
Newsom signed the bill without issuing any public comment.
State lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill that would require voters across broadwater authorities to allow individual districts to withdraw before they can legally detach from regional agencies.
But the legislation may be too late to prevent two North County water districts from divorcing from the San Diego County Water Authority.
Imagine going to dinner with a large group where everyone orders a full meal and one couple leaves just as the bill arrives. Unfortunately, this “dine and dash” is happening right now in San Diego County. Except it’s not just friends at dinner but rather two water districts attempting to leave us all with a tab of more than $200 million as they form a new partnership in Riverside.
What does this mean for the rest of us? All our water bills will go up as we’re forced to foot the bill.
A bill that would have made it harder for two water districts to break up with the San Diego County Water Authority lost a bit of steam late last week.
What happened: The state Senate Appropriations Committee passed AB 399 to the Senate floor for debate but got rid of a clause that would have allowed the bill to become law more quickly.
The bill would require that voters across the county approve any water district’s desire to leave the Water Authority. And that clause was important to the bill’s supporters because it would have stopped two districts from leaving.
The San Diego County Water Authority filed suit Monday to stop the rural Fallbrook and Rainbow water districts from leaving the county system, citing environmental harm under the California Environmental Quality Act.
The lawsuit filed in Superior Court challenges a decision by the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission to allow the two districts to join Riverside County without paying what the Water Authority says is their fair share of water-reliability investments.
The “detachment” effort is the first of its kind in California and would shift approximately $140 million in costs to the rest of the Water Authority’s customers.
The long-running debate over whether the Fallbrook and Rainbow communities should leave the San Diego County Water Authority to obtain cheaper rates ignores a very large elephant in the room — climate change.
If the two rural communities cast their lot with Riverside County, their agricultural economy will depend upon the Colorado River and the State Water Project, both of which have been reeling from increasingly severe droughts.
