The Valley Center Municipal Water District (District) has been advised by its wholesale supplier, the San Diego County Water Authority, of the following aqueduct shutdown. The shutdown of the San Diego Aqueduct that delivers water to the District will be out of service for rehabilitation repairs and will begin at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 22, 2025, through 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
The popular WaterSmart Landscape Makeover annual competition is now open for 2025 entries. The contest highlights residential landscaping with grass areas that have been transformed into flourishing and colorful water-smart landscapes.
Contest judges look for winners who represent the best in landscaping makeover projects from 12 participating San Diego County water agencies.
Winning entrants feature unique approaches to their landscape projects. They demonstrate the wide range of options for creating lush, beautiful landscapes that rely more on native plants and less on large areas of thirty grass.
Jason and Taylor McAllister turned a tired Santee yard into a tropical landscape visited by pollinators and other wildlife. Photo: Padre Dam Municipal Water District
Entries are judged on overall attractiveness, efficient irrigation methods, design, and appropriate plant selection and maintenance. The creative results and personal stories help inform and inspire other homeowners to consider their own new yard designs.
“The cooler winter months are the ideal time to make changes to your landscaping,” said Water Authority Senior Water Resources Specialist Debby Dunn. “Take advantage of our ongoing educational programs and rebates to create your own water-wise wonderland.
“To help choose the plants that best fit your style and climate, check out the Water Authority’s Nifty 50 and Happy 100 plant lists. These lists can help everyone create beautiful, lush, colorful, thriving landscapes filled with birds, bees, and butterflies.”
Rain barrels help supplement the irrigation system in this year’s Vista Irrigation District Landscape Makeover Contest winner. Photo: Vista Irrigation District
Participating agencies in 2025 include the cities of Escondido, and Oceanside, Helix Water District, Olivenhain Municipal Water District, Otay Water District, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, Rincon Del Diablo Water District, San Dieguito Water District, Sweetwater Authority, Vallecitos Water District, and Vista Irrigation District.
Each agency winner receives a $250 gift certificate and public recognition for their efforts. Homeowners may also be eligible for turf removal rebates and additional incentives, which can help defray project costs. Applications must be complete and approved prior to beginning your landscape work.
The winning Olivenhain Municipal Water District 2024 landscape contest design includes a seating area to let visitors sit and enjoy the space Photo: Olivenhain Municipal Water District
This year’s contest deadline for all participating agencies is Friday, May 9, 2025. Homeowners may submit their entry online or through their participating agency. This is where you pay your water bill. You must be a resident within agency boundaries to participate.
Find the application for your participating water agency here, or on your agency’s website.
The Palmer family’s winning entry in the 2024 City of Escondido Landscape Makeover Contest. Photo: City of Escondido
Outdoor water use accounts for 62% of San Diego County’s water consumption, mainly for landscape irrigation. Yards with a lot of grass can greatly increase overall water consumption.
Conservation education efforts, including the WaterSmart Landscape Contest, provide ways to create landscapes customized for your favorite activities, incorporating the needs of children, pets, accessible areas, pollinators, and specialty gardens.
The Water Authority offers free options to help homeowners plan their makeovers. Homeowners can get started by viewing step-by-step videos on the Water Authority website. Additional online resources includes free video workshops.
Each winner will receive a $250 gift certificate and recognition in the appropriate agency’s newsletter, on their website, and other promotional materials.
Water in California, while always a hot topic, entered the national spotlight at the start of 2025. Where the San Diego region’s water comes from, how it’s provided and who’s in charge of what are big questions that water professionals address every day.
What are the biggest sources of water for San Diego County?
In 2024, about 60% of the region’s water supplies were from the Colorado River, about one-third were from local sources and the rest was from Northern California through the State Water Project. The State Water Project is operated by the State of California and is separate from the Central Valley Project operated by the federal government.
Regardless of the source, all the water delivered to homes and businesses across the region meets strict state and federal quality standards.
How has our region’s water supply changed over the years?
In 1991, San Diego County got 95% of its water from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) in Los Angeles, leaving the region’s water supply outside of San Diego’s control. A lack of local resources left the region susceptible to supply cutbacks from its major single major source. In 1991, MWD imposed an supply reduction of 31%, prompting the San Diego region’s civic and business leaders to demand greater investments and increased control over the county’s water future. In the following three decades, the Water Authority invested roughly $3 billion in regional water reliability projects. That included cementing the largest water conservation-and-transfer deal in U.S. history to secure conserved water from the Imperial Valley, partnering with a private company to build the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant and super-sizing San Vicente Reservoir by raising the height of the World War II-era dam. Now San Diego has a locally controlled and diversified water supply to make sure the taps always turn on.
SDCWA’s water portfolio over the years.
Why doesn’t San Diego County use much groundwater?
Before 1947, the San Diego region relied heavily on local surface water runoff in normal and wet years, and on groundwater pumped from local aquifers during dry years when stream flows shriveled. As the economy and population grew exponentially, local resources became insufficient to meet the region’s water supply needs, and the region increasingly turned to imported water supplies. Today, groundwater is a small but important resource, especially in places like the South Bay where the aquifers are relatively large. Overall, it accounts for about 5 percent of the region’s water supply portfolio.
What is being done to create additional water supply here in the region?
Coordinating with 22 member agencies to develop long-term, local water reliability is a key component of the Water Authority’s mission. In fact, a growing number of local water sources across the San Diego region are managed by local retail agencies — and they are critical to ensuring long-term supply reliability. Local projects reduce demand on imported supplies and provide local agencies with more control.
In San Diego County, agencies are investing in seawater desalination, water recycling and water purification to create the water reliability our region needs to thrive.
What does the future of water look like for San Diego County?
Even in very dry years like 2025, regional investments mean there’s sufficient water to sustain our economy and quality of life. In fact, the region has done such a good job securing water, that it’s talking with other agencies across the Southwest about selling some of locally controlled water to combat rate increases in the county and support the larger regional economy.
For more information about San Diego’s water sources, click here.
People are reaching out to CBS 8 with questions about Lake Miramar and why the water level is so low. CBS 8 is Working For You to find out what is causing the drop.
“I noticed a couple weeks ago when I was here walking around the lake that the water level had gone really low when I was wondering, ‘What’s going on?’ I was confused as to why that was happening,” Robert Ross told CBS 8 Friday.
The San Diego County Water Authority announced a new multi-agency agreement this week that will save local water customers $20 million while protecting Colorado River supplies.
The San Diego County Water Authority has purchased a new building on 9 acres in Escondido for $38.76 million, according to a brokerage.
San Diego-based RPG sold the 88,552-square-foot facility. The property, now completed, is part of a larger planned two-building industrial development, known as the Escondido Logistics Center, on Citracado Parkway at So. Andreasen Drive.
Santa Fe Irrigation District customers will see an increase to their water rates effective Jan. 1, 2025. According to a news release from the district, 100% of this increase is from the San Diego County Water Authority, the region’s wholesale water provider.
Costs for water purchases from the San Diego Water Authority account for about 50% of Santa Fe Irrigation District’s budget expenditures. The water authority’s rates are increasing by approximately 14.9% this coming year and will be passed on to Santa Fe Irrigation District (SFID) customers. According to the release, the authority’s increase is due to a variety of factors including inflationary pressures, debt repayment and climate impacts. This is the first increase of what SDCWA anticipates will be a total of an approximately 40% increase between 2025 and 2027, according to the district.
On Oct. 1, the San Diego County Water Authority announced that the region has plenty of water to meet demands in water year 2025 regardless of the weather, thanks to regional investments in water reliability and consecutive wet winters.
A water year is a 12-month period that hydrologists use to track precipitation over the winter and spring with to understand how much water is available during the hot and dry summer months. Precipitation that falls during a water year indicates how much water will contribute to stream flow and groundwater. Right now, the focus is on the emerging La Niña weather pattern, which typically brings hotter and drier conditions to Southern California.
Poway’s average residential customers could see a nearly $33 bimonthly increase on their water bill next spring.
The city has planned for 6 percent annual water rate increases since January 2022. The increases are considered adjustments for rate increases by the city’s water supplier, San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA). On Jan. 1, 2025 customers will see an increase of $23.51 to their bimonthly billing period.
Every October 17, the US Water Alliance hosts “Imagine a Day Without Water” — a chance to collectively acknowledge the critical role water plays in every aspect of our lives.
Imagine rolling out of bed in the morning, going to brush your teeth, and no water coming out of the tap. You check the dishwasher, which was supposed to run last night, and see the plates and glasses are still dirty. The shower runs dry, the lawn isn’t watered, and the washing machine is idle.
A world without water. It’s a scary proposition.
While this may seem like science fiction, some cities have come extremely close to this terrifying reality. A few years ago, huge water shortages forced residents of Cape Town, South Africa, to shrink their water use to all-time lows. “We are now limited to using 13 gallons of water per person per day,” wrote Time Magazine. “That’s enough for a 90-second shower, a half-gallon of drinking water, a sinkful to hand-wash dishes or laundry, one cooked meal, two hand washings, two teeth brushings and one toilet flush.”
This year Mexico City faced similar catastrophic cuts to keep preserve their dwindling water reserves. “Bernardo Nonato Corona, a resident of the hills surrounding Mexico City, told ABC News he spends 25% of his income on water.”
Cataclysmic water shortages, safety and supply problems aren’t just an international issue. They’re happening right here in California as well. An annual assessment released by the State Water Resources Control Board found that “almost 400 water systems serving nearly a million Californians don’t meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water supplies.”
Climate change, poor planning and other factors have caused residents around the world to face a world without water.
Now think about how a similar situation would impact our region. More than 3 million residents across the county and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity would grind to a halt, making the basic activities we take for granted impossible.
Thankfully, the San Diego region has planned to make sure that scenario stays a hypothetical.
On Oct. 1, the San Diego County Water Authority announced that the region had plenty of water to meet demands during the year ahead regardless of the weather. That’s because our region’s work on new supplies, conservation and water storage over the past 30 years were a down payment on sustainable water supplies for future generations.
We know there are challenges ahead to provide our growing region the reliable water supply it needs in a hotter and drier world. We’re working to make sure that a world without water is just a one day thought experiment instead of reality.
