WaterSmart Makeover: A Gardenful of Succulents
When Catalina Schultz and her husband, Steve, bought their National City home in 2011, the front yard was basically just lawn. And Catalina, a self-described housewife, had no interest in mowing it.
Tag Archive for: San Diego County Water Authority
CWA Approves Rate Redesign Recommendation
A CWA board vote Thursday, Feb. 22, approved the recommendation of the CWA’s Finance Planning Workgroup. The calendar year 2025 changes include apportioning 40% of the transportation charge as a Transportation Fixed Rate allocated to member agencies by a seven-year rolling average with the current volume-based Transportation Rate designed to recover the remaining 60% of the forecasted annual revenue requirement.
San Diego’s Water Strategy: Selling Desal Water While Eyeing Expansion Amid Drought
Amid rising costs and decreasing sales, San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) is navigating the complexities of water management by considering the sale of its costly desalinated water, while simultaneously exploring options for the expansion of its desalination capabilities.
Year Of Impact: Water Authority Issues FY2023 Annual Report
The San Diego County Water Authority issued its Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report, recapping the agency’s efforts to adapt, engage, and transform in ways that ensure a safe and resilient regional water system today and for future generations.
The annual report can be accessed on the Water Authority website.
Commitment to public transparency
The San Diego County Water Authority issued its FY23 annual report, part of its effort to ensure transparency. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
The Water Authority is committed to informing residents and businesses about key issues, projects, and programs that impact the regional water supply. The Annual Report is part of this effort.
Each year, Board members and staff make presentations to more than 100 business, community, and civic groups.
In communities with active or proposed construction projects, the Water Authority conducts proactive outreach to ensure awareness about neighborhood impacts. In addition, the agency participates in numerous civic organizations that strengthen the community, and it creates periodic outreach and education campaigns about critical issues.
Adapting to changing weather, inflationary pressure
With the help of a federal loan, the Water Authority invested in environmental upgrades to the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, saving ratepayers tens of millions of dollars. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Managing water in a hot, dry climate like requires continual innovation, collaboration, conservation, and strategic investments. The FY23 Annual Report recaps the Water Authority’s multiple initiatives to pursue further collaboration on river management, as well as its successful advocacy for new legislation that would give the state more tools to deal with extreme weather.
Of importance to ratepayers, strategic actions were taken to address inflationary pressures and decreased water sales to keep water rates as low as possible. With the help of a federal loan, the Water Authority invested in environmental upgrades to the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, saving ratepayers tens of millions of dollars.
The Water Authority also obtained grant funds to install free water-saving devices in underrepresented communities, and it helped secure federal financial aid for low-income water customers in the region to cover overdue residential water and wastewater bills.
The Water Authority seeks to maintain the lowest possible rates while working to ensure that everyone in the region has access to safe and reliable water supplies. Water affordability requires coordinated efforts by all levels of government – federal, state, wholesale, and retail.
Proactive maintenance protecting water affordability
The timely rehabilitation of the First Aqueduct is part of the Water Authority’s proactive asset management program. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Finally, the Water Authority completed one of its biggest maintenance operations in more than 75 years. The work was part of a proactive asset management program to maintain and rehabilitate its 308 miles of large-diameter pipelines, which deliver water to millions of San Diegans. This transformational work was critical in ensuring the reliability of the region’s water delivery system. The program promotes water affordability by avoiding costly unplanned disruptions in service.
With decades of strategic investments, the Water Authority has emerged as a model for statewide efforts to develop diversified water supply portfolios that can adapt to the changing climate. These assets provide water supply reliability for the region’s economy and 3.3 million residents. Over the past year, the Water Authority continued to prepare the region for an uncertain future.
From helping customers lower their water bills to protecting ratepayers from rate increases, the Water Authority is always looking for ways to support San Diego County’s long-term welfare. Though challenges persist, the agency strives to continue making a positive impact by advocating for initiatives that move the region and state toward water affordability and reliability.
Can the Ocean Save the Colorado River? San Diego Thinks so.
Facing rising costs and rates, the leaders of San Diego’s water lifelines are looking to sell some of its most expensive supply: de-salted ocean water from a massive plant in Carlsbad. But, at the same time, they’re also trying to make more of it.
Michael Smolens: Let’s Make a (Water) Deal!
San Diego County Water Authority opens negotiations to sell some of its surplus to a small district in southern Orange County. It’s another step in a new direction for the agency.
Water Agencies Evolving to Address Changing Realities
California water agencies including the San Diego County Water Authority are exploring ways to better manage sporadic periods of abundant rainfall — part of a larger effort to meet the ever-changing realities they face logistically and economically.
Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham recently discussed the evolution of regional water management on the Southern California Water Dialogue. The Water Dialogues are a monthly forum exploring water-related issues of regional interest.
The backdrop for the discussion is what many call “climate whiplash” — for instance, when three years of record drought from 2020 to 2022 were followed by abnormally high rainfall in 2023. In the future, California could experience shorter but more extreme wet seasons between periods of drought.
View the webinar here.
Creative portfolio approach to water management
At the Water Authority — the agency responsible for long-term water planning in San Diego County — Denham said the lack of regular rainfall and little access to groundwater has forced the Water Authority to be more creative than most water agencies in securing a safe, reliable water supply.
“We embarked upon a 20-to-30-year process to diversify the Water Authority’s supply portfolio. Our board directed a portfolio approach to ensure that we had not only sufficient supplies but also made significant investments in infrastructure,” explained Denham.
“We’ve adopted cutting-edge conservation and techniques. We’ve sponsored legislation at the state level. And we’re at the forefront of many water use efficiency programs,” said Denham.
With those investments and actions as the foundation, the time is right to set a vision for the coming decades. “The future of water in Southern California — of course, reuse is going to be a big component of it — but I do believe a lot of it is going to be sharing resources and developing partnerships,” Denham said.
Advancing long-term water-sharing partnerships
Signing the historic agreement: Top (L to R): Mel Katz, chair SDCWA Board; Jim Madaffer, Vice Chair Colorado River Board of CA and SDCWA Board member; Gloria Cordero, MWD’s representative to the Colorado River Board; Adan Ortega, chair MWD Board; J.B. Hamby, Chair Colorado River Board of CA. Bottom (L To R): Dan Denham, SDCWA General Manager; Camille Touton, Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Adel Hagekhalil, MWD General Manager; Jamie Asbury, Imperial Irrigation District General Manager. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Denham said investing in a long-term partnership with the Imperial Irrigation District in a water conservation agreement has proved key. “Those types of partnerships have continued and had been successful over the past 20 years,” said Denham.
“This is what our diversification looks like. This is 25 years’ worth of investment in resiliency, transitioning us from an imported water agency with one source of supply to where we’re at today with a really diverse resource mix,” said Denham.
Denham says in addition to maximizing reuse, sharing resources and developing partnerships to share those resources will become vital. The Water Authority signed a landmark agreement with the Metropolitan Water District and the Imperial Irrigation District in late 2023.
“What we were able to do was take advantage of those high runoff years in Northern California, bringing that State Water Project water down to San Diego and leaving some of our Colorado River conserved water in Lake Mead – 50,000-acre feet – which raised the reservoir by six inches. It could not have been done without the partnership that we have in relationships developed over time with the Metropolitan Water District and the Imperial Irrigation District. I look towards more of this to the future,” said Denham.
Flexibility to optimize water resources
In October 2003, the San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, State of California and U.S. Department of the Interior completed a historic set of agreements to conserve and transfer Colorado River water.
While planning for drought is necessary, it’s also necessary to devise a plan flexible enough to take advantage of high-runoff years.
“What do you do in those high runoff years, in those years of abundance? Some of that speaks to storage,” explained Denham. “The Water Authority has increased its largest surface water storage reservoir. It’s doubled in size. But the Water Authority — like others in the Metropolitan Water District service area in California, is realizing that those surface water storage reservoirs are pretty full.
“What does that speak to next? Flexibility, and the sharing of resources. If our reservoirs are full, or we don’t have the demands for the investments that we’ve made, whether it’s in the Colorado River supplies or the Carlsbad desalination plant, perhaps there’s another partner in Southern California or in the Lower Colorado River Basin that we can exchange supplies with.
“What I mean by that is we do have supplies that can be managed in a different way,” said Denham.
Established in 1998, the Water Dialogue explores the common interests among Southern California water agencies, environmental organizations, and public interest organizations, and serves as a clearinghouse and advocate for projects, activities, and processes that will improve the quality and reliability of Southern California’s water supply.
The Water Dialogue represents members including the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Southern California Watershed Alliance, Sierra Club, West Basin Municipal Water District, Central Basin Municipal Water District, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Irvine Ranch Water District, Trabuco Canyon Water District, Southern California Water Coalition, Atwater Consulting Group, Jacobs and Caltech/JPL/NASA.
Water Agencies Explore Innovative Transfer Deal for Drought-Resilient Water
For the second time in recent months, the San Diego County Water Authority is considering an innovative water transfer that could eventually deliver drought-resilient water supplies to South Orange County through the Moulton Niguel Water District and help combat increasing water rates for San Diegans.
Both districts have signed a Memorandum of Understanding MOU to begin discussions centering on the Water Authority transferring water supplies to Moulton Niguel, including from the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant.
Agency leaders will determine the details, including when and how a transfer might take place.
The Moulton Niguel Water District serves more than 170,000 customers from Laguna Niguel to San Juan Capistrano.
Previous water transfer deal offers template
Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham speaks at the Dec. 13 signing ceremony in Las Vegas, supporting a set of agreements to sustain the Colorado River and save money for San Diego County water ratepayers. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
In December, the Water Authority completed a similar agreement to transfer water with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Imperial Irrigation District. It saves the Water Authority between $15 million and $20 million while helping to raise the level of Lake Mead.
“The San Diego region’s investments in water supply reliability are being used to protect local ratepayers from rising costs while offering solutions that benefit the entire Southwest,” said Water Authority Board Chair Mel Katz. “We appreciate Moulton Niguel’s vision to explore this concept and we look forward to fashioning a mutually beneficial agreement.”
Moulton Niguel’s 2020 Long Range Water Reliability Plan and Water Reliability Policy prioritize the development and phased addition of new drought-proof water supplies to sustain its service area during droughts, which have hit California with increasing frequency over the past three decades.
“Our Board is committed to making cost-effective investments to enhance water supplies that benefit our service area in dry years, and a potential partnership with the Water Authority is another piece of that plan. In the era of climate extremes, it’s in everyone’s best interest to find partnerships that maintain our economy and quality of life,” said Moulton Niguel Board President Duane D. Cave.
Diverse water portfolio provides water reliability
The Carlsbad plant uses reverse osmosis to produce approximately 10 percent of the region’s water supply; it is a core supply regardless of weather conditions, and it is blended with water from other sources for regional distribution. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Over the past 20 years, the Water Authority has developed a nationally recognized portfolio of drought-resilient water supplies, including the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad. Completed in 2015, the facility produces up to 56,000 acre-feet of water a year, meeting about 10% of the region’s water demand.
San Diego region’s per capita water use has dropped by more than 50% during the same time. The reduction in water use by consumers allows the Water Authority to collaborate with other water providers on solutions to climate-induced supply challenges.
Water Conservation Garden Reopens Today; JPA to Takeover Operations
The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College reopened to the public today, after the Garden’s Joint Powers Authority agreed to takeover operations from the financially struggling nonprofit group, Friends of the Water Conservation Garden.
San Diego County Water Authority Announces Routine Maintenance on First Aqueduct
San Diego’s thirst for water will face a minor hurdle as the first conduit of life’s elixir undergoes its annual health check. The San Diego County Water Authority is rolling up its sleeves for a routine tune-up on parts of its First Aqueduct from February 25 to March 5, an exercise ensuring taps keep flowing without a hitch.
