Tag Archive for: Water Infrastructure

San Diego County Water Authority And its 24 Member Agencies

Water Authority Board Approves 2024 Wholesale Rates After Public Hearing

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The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors today approved wholesale water rates for 2024 following a public hearing and approved the recommended budget for the next two fiscal years. The budget and rates support continued work on numerous agency priorities, including capital projects critical for maintaining safe and reliable water supplies.

“The Board and staff have worked tirelessly for months to minimize rate increases while supporting the reliability of our water supply,” said Water Authority Board Chair Mel Katz. “Despite cost increases created by extraordinary inflation and depressed water sales, we have a budget that allows the Water Authority to do what it does best – provide the water that sustains our economy and quality of life.”

The Board approved increasing wholesale water costs for its 24 retail member agencies by 9.5%. Actual rate impacts will vary by agency based on their use of the Water Authority’s system and actual water purchases. Water rates paid by residents and businesses will also vary based on factors unique to each retail agency.

Budget and rates

The budget and rates package was the most challenging in decades due to extreme inflation over the past year and depressed water sales due to cool and wet weather. Against that backdrop, the Board prioritized immediate ratepayer relief with a planned withdrawal of nearly $30 million from the Rate Stabilization Fund, which would bring the fund to its lowest level in more than a decade. The Rate Stabilization Fund was created in 1990 to help avoid rate spikes, especially those driven by reduced water sales following abnormally wet weather or mandatory cutbacks.

The Board also approved the staff recommended $1.85 billion budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, an increase of 5% from the current two-year budget due to higher costs for water, treatment and infrastructure maintenance. The budget prioritizes the following initiatives:

  • Long-term planning
  • Capital projects
  • Engaging stakeholders
  • System and asset management
  • Fiscal responsibility and cost control

Approximately 90% of the Water Authority’s recommended budget is for buying and treating and delivering water, combined with debt service and infrastructure projects to ensure water is available when and where it’s needed. As in past years, the Water Authority’s Operating Departments – including all agency staff and day-to-day work functions – account for about 7% of the budget. The approved budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 increases spending by those departments by 1%, or $1.5 million, compared to the current two-year budget.

Public water agencies do not make a profit; all revenues are invested in protecting and providing safe and reliable water.

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Water Authority Board Approves 2024 Wholesale Rates After Public Hearing

/in , /by /The Vista Press Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors today approved wholesale water rates for 2024 following a public hearing and approved the recommended budget for the next two fiscal years. The budget and rates support continued work on numerous agency priorities, including capital projects critical for maintaining safe and reliable water supplies.

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San Diego Water Rates Will Rise More Steeply Than Expected — But Single-Family Homeowners Will Get a Reprieve

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Garrick Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego officials say they must raise water rates more than previously announced — 19.8% instead of 17.6% — but a smaller portion of the increases would fall on typical single-family homeowners.

City water officials told the City Council Tuesday that the bump up in the proposed increases is being driven primarily by costs for imported water, which makes up 85% to 90% of the city’s supply.

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Helix Water District Wins $10.3 Million Grant From State

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union Tribuneby Laura Groch

The Helix Water District has been awarded $10.3 million in grant funds by the California Department of Water Resources for the district’s drought resilience and drinking water supply reliability project. The district was one of 26 California agencies, and the only one in San Diego County, to receive a portion of the $217 million in grants awarded in this round of funding.

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San Diego County Water Authority And its 24 Member Agencies

Water Authority Board Holds Public Hearing on 2024 Wholesale Water Rates

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June 15, 2023 – On June 22, the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors will hold a public hearing about proposed wholesale water rates for 2024, followed by votes on the rate proposal and the recommended budget for the next two fiscal years.

The Water Authority Board is seeking to manage cost increases created by extraordinary inflationary pressures and depressed water sales, while at the same time protecting ratepayers, ensuring water reliability, and maintaining the Water Authority’s strong credit ratings that reduce the life-cycle cost of infrastructure. Due to its long-term commitment to strategic financial management, the Water Authority has senior lien credit ratings of AAA from Standard & Poor’s, AA+ from Fitch ratings and Aa2 from Moody’s.

The public hearing is scheduled to start when the Administrative and Finance Committee meets at 9 a.m. June 22, at 4677 Overland Avenue in San Diego. The hearing will also be livestreamed at www.sdcwa.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meetings/. Public comments will be accepted in person; via Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83333513511?pwd=SW9VU0NQaDd3aHlsMlN4ajluUkp4dz09#success with passcode 576222; or by phone at 669-444-9171 using meeting ID 833 3351 3511# and passcode *576222# as prompted.

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Imperial Beach Seeks Federal Assistance in Ceasing Ongoing Pollution from Tijuana River Sewage Spill

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Karla Rendon

Imperial Beach urgently needs federal funding to put an end to the Tijuana River’s ongoing sewage spill that’s kept portions of the city’s beaches closed, Mayor Paloma Aguirre wrote in a letter to the White House.

Seeking a federal state of emergency status for the continued pollution, Mayor Aguirre called on the Biden administration to declare the emergency for the shoreline of Imperial Beach and the Tijuana River Valley. Such a proclamation would expedite funding and projects across federal agencies to tackle the source of the issue.

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Could the Central Arizona Project Canal be the Solution to our Water Problems?

/in , /by /ABC 15 Arizonaby Jorge Torres

Along the Central Arizona Project (CAP) Canal, just beyond the city of Buckeye, is a place being considered for a project that could double the amount of water in the canal.

“It’s a game changer for the state if it works,” said Chuck Podolak with the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona.

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Lake Hodges Reopens to San Diego Community After Yearlong Closure

/in , , /by /KPBS-FM/TVby Jacob Aere

The Lake Hodges dam is old — over 100 years old, in fact. It opened in 1918, so it has dealt with some wear and tear over the years, and recently needed critical repair work to keep it up and running.

Now, it has been reopened to the community.

“It opened yesterday and will remain open through October. We’re open for recreation Wednesday, Saturdays and Sundays, sunrise to sunset,” the San Diego Public Utilities Department’s Drew Kleis said on Friday.

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Water Authority Team Wins 2023 Skills Competition

/in , , /by /Water News Network Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Operations and Maintenance Division team won the top prize at the annual ROADEO Skills Competition. The 2023 event was hosted by the San Diego Chapter of the Maintenance Superintendents Association and the American Public Works Association (APWA) in April at Wells Park in El Cajon.

The annual contest gives the region’s public works maintenance professionals an opportunity to put their daily job skills on the line against the best of their peers, both in individual events and in three-person teams.

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The Water Authority Fleet and Facilities Maintenance Crews pose with their 2023 Roadeo trophies. Top Row(L to R): Matt Boteler, Luke Holbrook, Tyson Short, Frank Vargas, Bobby Bond, Bill Keyser, Mark Christman. Bottom Row: Tony Zepeda and Cole Curtis. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Water Authority Team Wins 2023 Skills Competition

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The San Diego County Water Authority’s Operations and Maintenance Division team won the top prize at the annual ROADEO Skills Competition. The 2023 event was hosted by the San Diego Chapter of the Maintenance Superintendents Association and the American Public Works Association (APWA) in April at Wells Park in El Cajon.

The annual contest gives the region’s public works maintenance professionals an opportunity to put their daily job skills on the line against the best of their peers, both in individual events and in three-person teams.

Bobby Bonds won the backhoe skills event at the 2023 Roadeo Competition. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Bobby Bonds won the backhoe skills event at the 2023 Roadeo Competition. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Teams compete for the 2023 MSA Trophy in four events: backhoe skills, mini-excavator skills, sign assembly, and a wheelbarrow obstacle endurance race. These are the same skills used by public works employees daily. The team having the best overall combined time wins the MSA perpetual trophy, along with serious bragging rights.

Testing skills and experience

The team of Tony Zepeda, Frank Vargas, and Bobby Bond pose with their awards at the Water Authority's Escondido facility. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

The team of Tony Zepeda, Frank Vargas, and Bobby Bond pose with their awards at the Water Authority’s Escondido facility. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Water Authority Director of Operations and Maintenance Eva Plajzer introduced the winning team members at the Water Authority Board of Director’s Engineering and Operations Committee meeting on April 27. Senior Maintenance Technician Bobby Bond, Maintenance Worker II Frank Vargas, and Maintenance Technician Tony Zepeda competed for the Water Authority. System Maintenance Supervisor Luke Holbrook and Operations and Maintenance Manager Al Garza supported the team’s preparation and efforts.

As the overall winning team, the Water Authority trio wins a MSA Trophy for display which, Plajzer joked, “is larger than the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup.”

Roadeo team member Bobby Bond poses with the impressive winners' trophy. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority team wins

ROADEO team member Bobby Bond poses with the impressive winners’ trophy. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

Bond, who also won first place in the backhoe competition, explained to board members all the events represent similar skills competitors perform in their jobs performing critical water and wastewater systems maintenance and repairs.

For the backhoe skills test, the operator must use the backhoe to pick up a basketball off a cone, or a ring on a chain, then run through an obstacle course against the clock to successfully place the basketball inside a barrel. The skills needed to pick up small items are the same skills preventing workers from breaking pipes or fixtures.

“They come through every time”

Valley Center Municipal Water District General Manager Gary Arant, who represents his agency on the Water Authority Board, noted the serious purpose of the competition.

“It reflects the skills that we have within the organization,” said Arant during the committee meeting. “Those skills come with years of service and perfecting what they do, training the newer people. We as member agencies benefit, because when we have a shutdown, and we’re waiting for that system to come back up, we count on those skills. They come through every time.”

Friendly competition with serious purpose

Frank Vargas tests his skills in the sign assembly competition. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority tea wins

Frank Vargas tests his skills in the sign assembly competition. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority

While participants enjoy the event and the friendly contest among colleagues, the competition categories test the same skills the participants use on the job while maintaining water and wastewater systems, streets, and other vital infrastructure residents and businesses alike rely on every day.

Bonds is a previous winner of multiple individual categories since 2017 and the 2018 Master Operator winner. Zepeda is also a previous winner in the Wheelbarrow Skills Competition. Vargas was a first-time competitor.

Winners in the equipment competitions will compete at the August 2023 National APWA ROADEO in San Diego.

National Public Works Week is May 21-27

APWA-National Public Works Week-Roadeo-infrastructure

(Editor’s note: The Valley Center Municipal Water District is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)