San Diego’s boundary referees are rushing to push up a vote on a controversial water divorce before the state Legislature can step in.
The Local Agency Formation Commission is holding an emergency meeting Wednesday to push up a vote on whether two small farming communities can break up with the San Diego County Water Authority in search of cheaper water in Riverside County.
Lake Hodges has reopened for boating and fishing after a one-year closure to repair deteriorating concrete on the upstream face of its century-old dam.
“We are excited to be able to once again offer this beautiful fishing and recreational resource to the community,” said Arian Collins, San Diego’s supervising public information officer, in June 1 email.
What seemed like an internal dispute among San Diego County water agencies is now reverberating in Sacramento and Los Angeles, potentially raising the stakes in the outcome.
At issue is the effort by two small North County water districts to get out from under the San Diego County Water Authority umbrella and hook up with an agency in Riverside County to obtain cheaper water.
Hoping to alleviate a perennial tug-of-war between the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Directors and farmers on timely payments for conserved water, the IID voted to provide revenue certainty to the On-Farm Efficiency Conservation Program (OFECP) by approving $310.50/AF payment rate for all the 2023 conservation and authorize a budget amendment to increase the 2023 budget by $9.936 million at the regular meeting Tuesday, June 6.
The IID had agreed to a single payment rate not to exceed the $310.50/AF, and this would prorate the fixed budget of $41,399,800 to create at least 133,333 AF of conserved water, back in November 2022.
Padre Dam Water District’s board is fed up with having to pay higher rates for the water it purchases from the San Diego County Water Authority, and voted unanimously not to go along with any rate hike unless the CWA gets serious about its long-range planning.
The five-member board took the vote after listening to a presentation by CEO Kyle Swanson (photo, right)about CWA raising the wholesale rate charged to member water agencies next year by a range between 8.2 to 12.7 percent. At one point, CWA was considering increasing to about 13 percent, but the range is ever-changing and unknowable at the current time, Swanson said.
A local government body on Monday delayed the decision on whether two North County water districts can leave the San Diego County Water Authority to buy cheaper water elsewhere.
Fallbrook Public Utility District and Rainbow Municipal Water District want a divorce from the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) because they say the water rate is too high. They want to move to the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside for its cheaper water. It’s a process called detachment.
In their efforts to break away from the San Diego County Water Authority, two small farming communities have run into a powerful and unexpected foe: The Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
At least, they ran into the man who chairs Metropolitan’s board: Adán Ortega Jr., a water policy consultant and former lobbyist elected in October to lead at Met.
The Fallbrook and Rainbow Water Districts want to leave the San Diego County Water Authority because of high costs.
The water district’s say the San Diego County Water Authority is not serving San Diegans well, and they want to join a different authority in Riverside County.
Sustainable landscape demonstration gardens inspire homeowners to create and maintain their own beautiful, water-efficient landscapes. In California, where more than half of urban water usage goes towards landscape irrigation, any reduction in water consumption contributes to successful conservation efforts.
The San Diego County Water Authority and several member agencies host demonstration gardens that residents can visit and gather ideas for their own landscape makeovers and water-efficient upgrades. With gardens flourishing in late spring, it’s the perfect time for a self-guided garden tour.
The Fallbrook and Rainbow water districts have pushed back on an Assembly bill that would require a countywide public vote to approve their exit from the San Diego County Water Authority, accusing the city of San Diego of attempting to increase its power.
The two rural districts said in a statement that the city is “trying to make it harder — if not impossible” — for other districts in the county get less expensive water.
