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San Diego County Water Authority And its 24 Member Agencies

Water Authority Sues to Stop Imminent, Illegal Water Rate Increase

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Litigation aims to protect ratepayers from ‘LAFCO tax’ while seeking out-of-court settlement   

 August 21, 2023 – The San Diego County Water Authority today filed suit against the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, to protect the environment and to stop an imminent and illegal rate increase from harming farmers, working families, small businesses, and other water ratepayers across San Diego County.

The lawsuit challenges the decision by San Diego LAFCO to allow two local water agencies to leave the Water Authority without paying their fair share of costs incurred on their behalf over the past few decades. The “detachment” effort is the first of its kind in California, and it would shift approximately $140 million in costs from the Fallbrook and Rainbow water agencies to residents and businesses in the rest of the Water Authority’s service area over the next decade, raising water rates across the county as soon as January 2024.

According to the lawsuit, LAFCO failed to comply with several laws, including the County Water Authority Act, the Metropolitan Water District Act, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, and the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. During the three-year process of detachment – also called “reorganization” – the Water Authority raised numerous substantive concerns about LAFCO’s approach and methods; however, LAFCO disregarded critical problems to reach its pre-determined goal of approving detachment.

“Litigation is a last resort, but LAFCO’s deeply flawed decision leaves us with no choice but to stand up for residents, businesses and the environment,” said Water Authority Board Chair Mel Katz, adding that LAFCO denied a request by the Water Authority to extend a key litigation deadline to accommodate settlement talks. “Even though we were forced to file this lawsuit, we have had several good-faith discussions with Fallbrook and Rainbow, and we look forward to continued talks in hopes of finding a mutually agreeable resolution outside the court process.”

The Water Authority’s lawsuit asserts that LAFCO failed to assess and/or address significant detachment-driven negative impacts to:

  • The environment, including the effects of Fallbrook and Rainbow taking more water from the strained Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta
  • Disadvantaged communities that will bear the brunt of cost shift
  • Farmers in other parts of the Water Authority service area
  • The long-standing efforts by the Water Authority and its 24 members to proactively enhance regional water supply diversification and provide reliable water service countywide even in times of severe drought

“LAFCO should have acted as a backstop to protect the region’s ratepayers from this misguided and outdated attempt by these agencies to secure cheaper water without regard to the loss of reliability to their ratepayers and at the expense of the entirety of the Water Authority, i.e., its other 22 members, its constituents, and the region as a whole,” according to the suit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court.

“Yet, LAFCO’s approach to this seismic shift in regional water supply planning was, at once, both slapdash and pre-determined, with many ‘invented’ processes and little attention paid to staff impartiality, the relevant statutory requirements, the need to disclose and analyze the environmental impacts under CEQA, or Rainbow and Fallbrook’s responsibility for their fair share of existing indebtedness the Water Authority incurred to serve their customers.”

Over the past 30 years, the Water Authority has created one of the most extensive, drought-resilient water supply systems in the nation based on regional demands to ensure water supply reliability for an arid region with few local natural water supplies. The effort worked, providing sufficient supplies across the Water Authority service area during a serious drought in 2020-22. It also came at the cost of a few billion dollars over the past three decades – investments approved by the Water Authority’s Board of Directors over the years with the understanding that each member agency would use and pay for its share of the supplies and facilities over the long-term.

LAFCO’s approval of the Fallbrook and Rainbow detachment applications in July 2023 included an arbitrary exit fee for the two districts. That LAFCO-designed fee fell $140 million short of covering the two agency’s costs over just the first decade of detachment even by LAFCO’s own flawed methodology based on years-old data and questionable projections.

“LAFCO staff reverse-engineered an exit fee that would impose the least possible economic burden on Fallbrook and Rainbow, ignoring the guidance provided by its own expert and relying on stale data and projections, despite the availability of updated revenue figures that could have been used in calculating the fee,” the lawsuit said. “Despite prior Commission discussion and the public discourse about the need for more data and options, LAFCO approved the Resolutions that adopted staff’s arbitrary number for exit fees without any substantial evidence or legal support.”

The detachment approval by LAFCO was also flawed in that it denied voters across the San Diego region the opportunity to vote on the proposal, in violation of state law. The disenfranchisement of more than 3 million residents showed “a clear intent by LAFCO to interfere with the constitutional right of voters to be heard on the imposition of the ‘LAFCO tax’,” according to the suit.

In addition, the Water Authority’s lawsuit argues that detachment creates a major change in water supply sources for Fallbrook and Rainbow that would cause significant adverse impacts on the environmentally degraded Bay-Delta by increasing water demands on that resource. According to the suit, “CEQA requires LAFCO to conduct an adequate environmental review prior to making any formal decision regarding projects subject to the Act. LAFCO failed to do so before approving the Resolutions, in violation of CEQA.”

To read the lawsuit, go to www.sdcwa.org/member-agencies/lafco-reorganization/.

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Opinion: Climate Change Will Undermine Quest by Fallbrook and Rainbow for Cheaper Water

/in , , /by /Water News Network / Times of San Diegoby Chris Jennewein Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The long-running debate over whether the Fallbrook and Rainbow communities should leave the San Diego County Water Authority to obtain cheaper rates ignores a very large elephant in the room — climate change.

If the two rural communities cast their lot with Riverside County, their agricultural economy will depend upon the Colorado River and the State Water Project, both of which have been reeling from increasingly severe droughts.

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Opinion: Climate Change Will Undermine Quest by Fallbrook and Rainbow for Cheaper Water

/in , /by /Times of San Diego by Chris Jennewein Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

The long-running debate over whether the Fallbrook and Rainbow communities should leave the San Diego County Water Authority to obtain cheaper rates ignores a very large elephant in the room — climate change.

If the two rural communities cast their lot with Riverside County, their agricultural economy will depend upon the Colorado River and the State Water Project, both of which have been reeling from increasingly severe droughts.

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Lake Mead-Lake Powell-Colorado River Basin-U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

Opinion: Climate Change Will Undermine Quest by Fallbrook and Rainbow for Cheaper Water

/in , /by /Times of San Diego by Chris Jennewein

The long-running debate over whether the Fallbrook and Rainbow communities should leave the San Diego County Water Authority to obtain cheaper rates ignores a very large elephant in the room — climate change.

If the two rural communities cast their lot with Riverside County, their agricultural economy will depend upon the Colorado River and the State Water Project, both of which have been reeling from increasingly severe droughts.

In December, just six months before the two communities’ case was heard by the Local Agency Formation Commission, the State Water Project announced that for the second year in a row, it would provide only 5% of requested water allocations.

Unexpectedly heavy winter rains then saved California, but not the Colorado River basin, where Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, remains 165 feet below its historic full level.

In May, the Western states that tap the Colorado River agreed to a reductions of up to 30% in water allocations. That’s a lot, and it’s not clear it is enough to save Lake Mead in the long run.

So Fallbrook and Rainbow are taking a risk. It’s a risk that was noted, albeit only briefly and obliquely, in the LAFCO proceedings.

“The superior reliability of SDCWA’s supply has benefitted FPUD and RMWD in the past … In switching from being wholesale customers of SDCWA to EMWD, FPUD and especially RMWD may face some challenges,” according to the official report for LAFCO.

Those “challenges” during a future drought could be a major reduction in water supply and higher prices at a time when the rest of San Diego County, thanks to the desalination plant, water recycling and the giant San Vicente Reservoir, has plenty of water.

Fallbrook and Rainbow say they don’t really benefit from this reliability, since their water systems are not directly connected. But water is a fungible resource. The two districts do have direct access to Colorado River water earmarked for San Diego County.

If the rest of San Diego County needs less Colorado water because of the investment in local supplies, then that water can be diverted to Fallbrook and Rainbow during a drought. And that’s exactly what happened during the most recent one. In any case, the Water Authority has plans for a physical connection, though it backed off amid the dispute.

Climate change impacts

There’s a whiff of national politics in all this. These are conservative communities where some may doubt climate change, and local business leaders have criticized desalination as a boondoggle. If you sincerely do not believe the climate is changing, then maybe you don’t see a risk in changing water suppliers.

In many ways this controversy is a bellwether for future wrangles over resources amid climate change. Do we stick with the old ways — in this case tapping our lakes and rivers — and hope for the best, or do we continue to invest in alternatives to protect our future?

It’s expensive to build desalination plants, recycling projects and new reservoirs, just like it’s expensive to upgrade the electrical grid and install car chargers. But a changing climate doesn’t ask for permission to impact our lives.

(Editor’s Note: Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego.)

States Have Started Negotiating New Rules to Keep the Colorado River From Crashing. Here’s What They Want

/in , , /by /CPR Newsby Michael Elizabeth Salas

The states that share the Colorado River need to negotiate new rules to better manage the dwindling river so it can continue to meet the needs of millions of people across the Southwest. That means finding ways to keep more water in the river and reservoirs, which means less water to go around.

The high-stakes, multi-year negotiation process between the states — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico in the upper basin and Arizona, Nevada and California in the lower basin — along with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, officially kicked off in June.

By the start of 2027, the states and the federal government are expected to have a new agreement on rules to manage the river so that Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s largest reservoirs, don’t hit critically low levels. Climate change and overuse have stressed the river system and helped drive both reservoirs to drop to record-low water levels.

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Central Valley Farmers Are Having a Climate Reckoning

/in , , /by /Politicoby Ry Rivard

Climate change — and changing political winds — are prompting shifts in strategy at California’s largest agricultural water district.

Westlands Water District, which occupies some 1,100 square miles of the arid San Joaquin Valley, is in the midst of an internal power struggle that will determine how water fights unfold across the state.

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Reclamation Announces 2024 Operating Conditions for Lake Powell and Lake Mead

/in , , /by /Water News Networkby U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation on August 15, released the Colorado River Basin August 2023 24-Month Study, which determines the tiers for the coordinated operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead for 2024. These operating conditions, which are based on existing agreements under the 2007 guidelines and lower basin Drought Contingency Plans, will be in effect until the near-term guidelines from the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) are finalized. Reclamation is currently analyzing the consensus-based Lower Division States proposed alternative for the SEIS.

Based on projections in the 24-Month Study, Lake Powell will operate in a Mid-Elevation Release Tier with a 7.48 million acre-feet release in water year 2024. Consistent with existing agreements, Lake Mead will operate in a Level 1 Shortage Condition – an improvement from the Level 2 Shortage Condition announced last year – with required shortages by Arizona and Nevada, coupled with Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan water savings contributions. Mexico’s water delivery will be reduced consistent with Minute 323.

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Colorado River Basin Ranks Among the World’s Most Water-Stressed Regions, Analysis Finds

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

A research effort tracking water scarcity around the world shows California, Arizona and other Western states are experiencing water stress at high levels similar to arid countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The analysis by researchers with the World Resources Institute found that all seven states that rely on the Colorado River face high or extremely high water stress. Arizona ranked first for the most severe water stress in the country, followed by New Mexico and Colorado, while California ranked fifth.

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California Likely Spared Colorado River Cuts in 2024, but Long-Term Woes Remain

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

California will likely not face any cuts in Colorado River supply in 2024, according to a new forecast released on Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The agency said heavy snowpack and rains last winter mean planned reductions can be eased slightly from more urgent levels last year.

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Lake Mead-Lake Powell-Colorado River Basin-U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

Reclamation Announces 2024 Operating Conditions for Lake Powell and Lake Mead

/in , /by /U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation on August 15, released the Colorado River Basin August 2023 24-Month Study, which determines the tiers for the coordinated operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead for 2024. These operating conditions, which are based on existing agreements under the 2007 guidelines and lower basin Drought Contingency Plans, will be in effect until the near-term guidelines from the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) are finalized. Reclamation is currently analyzing the consensus-based Lower Division States proposed alternative for the SEIS.

Based on projections in the 24-Month Study, Lake Powell will operate in a Mid-Elevation Release Tier with a 7.48 million acre-feet release in water year 2024. Consistent with existing agreements, Lake Mead will operate in a Level 1 Shortage Condition – an improvement from the Level 2 Shortage Condition announced last year – with required shortages by Arizona and Nevada, coupled with Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan water savings contributions. Mexico’s water delivery will be reduced consistent with Minute 323.

Lake Mead’s release in 2023 is projected to be the lowest in 30 years, approximately one and half million acre-feet lower than an average normal year, reflecting extensive, ongoing conservation efforts in the Lower Basin states funded in part by President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda, above-normal inflows in the lower basin below Hoover Dam, and conservation in Mexico.

Reclamation: Significant improvement for Lake Mead due to improved hydrology, ongoing conservation efforts. Operating guidelines in effect until Reclamation finalizes SEIS, including analysis of consensus-based state conservation agreement.

Investments in system conservation and improved hydrology this year have provided an opportunity to recover some reservoir storage. At the same time, the Colorado River system continues to face low elevations, with Lake Powell and Lake Mead at a combined storage of 36%.

“The above-average precipitation this year was a welcome relief, and coupled with our hard work for system conservation, we have the time to focus on the long-term sustainability solutions needed in the Colorado River Basin. However, Lake Powell and Lake Mead – the two largest reservoirs in the United States and the two largest storage units in the Colorado River system – remain at historically low levels,” said Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. “As we experience a warmer, drier west due to a prolonged drought, accelerated by climate change, Reclamation is committed to leading inclusive and transparent efforts to develop the next-generation framework for managing the river system.”

Reclamation on Development of Near- and Long-Term Guidelines

Reclamation is simultaneously developing both near- and long-term guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead operations. The supplemental SEIS in progress focuses on near-term actions, which would be applicable from 2024 through 2026 based on potential changes to limited sections of the 2007 Interim Guidelines. Reclamation temporarily withdrew the SEIS so it could fully analyze the consensus-based Lower Division States proposed alternative and will publish an updated draft SEIS for public review and comment with the consensus-based proposal as an action alternative later this year.

In addition to several agreements that have already been finalized, a consensus-based proposal – agreed upon by the three Lower Basin states earlier this year – commits to measures to conserve at least 3 million-acre-feet (maf) of system water through the end of 2026, when the current operating guidelines are set to expire.

The long-term guidelines, informally referred to as Post 2026 Operations, will revisit the 2007 Interim Guidelines in full, as well as other operating agreements that expire in 2026, including Drought Contingency Plans and Minute 323. In June, Reclamation initiated the formal process to develop the long-term operating guidelines.

Reclamation is committed to an inclusive and transparent process that enhances meaningful Tribal engagement as well as collaboration with all stakeholders in the basin. In response to Tribal feedback, the Department of the Interior established the first-ever Federal-Tribal-State partnership to promote equitable information-sharing and discussion among the sovereign governments in the Colorado River Basin. All 30 Colorado River Basin Tribal Nations and the seven U.S. basin states were invited to participate in this new group. The group met for the first time last week with Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, Commissioner Touton, and other Department leaders. The formation of this new group does not replace any independent consultation with either Tribes or states.

2024 Operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead

Until the updated near-term guidelines are finalized once the supplemental SEIS is complete, Reclamation will continue to implement the plans developed over the past two decades that lay out detailed operational rules for these critical Colorado River reservoirs through 2026:

  • Lake Powell Mid-Elevation Release Tier: The 24-Month Study, with an 8.23 maf release pattern in October – December 2023, projects Lake Powell’s January 1, 2024, elevation to be 3,568.57 feet – about 130 feet below full and about 80 feet above minimum power pool. Based on this projection, Lake Powell will operate in the Mid-Elevation Release Tier in water year 2024 (October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024). Under this tier, Lake Powell will release 7.48 million acre-feet in water year 2024 without the potential for a mid-year adjustment in April 2024. Under the most probable scenario, and with a 7.48 maf release pattern in October – December 2023, Lake Powell’s projected elevation on January 1, 2024, is 3,573.68 feet.
  • Lake Mead Level 1 Shortage Condition: The 24-Month Study projects Lake Mead’s January 1, 2024, elevation to be 1,065.27 feet – about 10 feet below the Lower Basin shortage determination trigger of 1,075 feet and about 25 feet below the drought contingency plan trigger of 1,090 feet. This elevation is based on a 7.48 maf release from Lake Powell in water year 2024. Based on this projection, Lake Mead will operate in a Level 1 Shortage Condition for calendar year 2024 (January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024). This is a significant improvement from the Level 2 Shortage Condition announced last year. The required shortage reductions and water savings contributions under the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, 2019 Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan and Minute 323 to the 1944 Water Treaty with Mexico are:
    • Arizona:  512,000 acre-feet, which is approximately 18% of the state’s annual apportionment.
    • Nevada:  21,000 acre-feet, which is 7% of the state’s annual apportionment.
    • Mexico:  80,000 acre-feet, which is approximately 5% of the country’s annual allotment.

Lower Basin projections for Lake Mead include updated water orders to reflect additional conservation efforts and new completed system conservation agreements under the Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program.

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda

System conservation and efficiency programs in the Colorado River Basin are being strengthened by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and will invest in long-term durable system efficiency improvements that result in quantifiable, verifiable water savings in the Basin.

The Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change, including protecting the short- and long-term sustainability of the Colorado River System. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including water purification and reuse, water storage and conveyance, desalination and dam safety. The Inflation Reduction Act is investing an additional $4.6 billion to address the historic drought.

To date, the Interior Department has announced the following investments for Colorado River Basin states, which will yield hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water savings each year once these projects are complete: