The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors adopted a $1.7 billion budget for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. The new budget is up 5 percent from the current two-year budget, due largely to increasing costs for water supply, supply reliability and infrastructure improvements.
The San Diego County Water Authority has hired the executive search firm William Avery & Associates to manage the recruitment and selection of the agency’s next general manager. The Los Gatos-based Avery & Associates has decades of experience recruiting candidates for public and private sector positions. After a competitive selection process, a work group of the Water Authority’s Board of Directors chose the firm to fill the position vacated in March by the retirement of longtime Water Authority General Manager Maureen Stapleton.
The San Diego County Water Authority on Tuesday secured nearly $18 million in savings on future debt payments for the region’s water ratepayers by refinancing bonds used to build a major pipeline connected to the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. Savings achieved this week topped earlier projections of $13.6 million through June 2046 on a net present-value basis due to strong demand for the $185 million issuance. Forty-five investors made orders for the bonds that totaled nearly $2 billion. The Water Authority benefitted from having one of the only deals of its kind on the market this week – after waiting for more than a year for market conditions to improve – and ongoing investor interest in the Carlsbad project.
The San Diego County Water Authority is expanding a long-running partnership with San Diego Gas & Electric to increase the availability of devices that save both water and energy for thousands of income-qualified residents across the region. The Water Authority’s investment of $150,000 will supplement funding for water-saving devices, allowing SDG&E’s Energy Savings Assistance Program to serve more customers. Approximately 21,000 residents annually have participated in the program, receiving assistance for devices such as low-flow showerheads and efficient washing machines.
Nortek Security & Control LLC has moved its headquarters to a new, 82,000-square-foot building in the Atlas at Carlsbad complex in Carlsbad, where it operates its research, engineering, product development and executive offices. The company is a leader in smart connected devices and systems for residential smart home, security, access control, AV distribution, and digital health markets.
Water rate increases proposed by the San Diego County Water Authority staff for 2019 are among the smallest in the past 15 years due to financial benefits secured through litigation against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Water Authority’s planned use of its Rate Stabilization Fund, the agency reported Thursday. Rates charged to the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies would increase by 0.9 percent for treated water and 2.9 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2019, according to a proposal to be presented to the Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday, May 24.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
