Celebrate Water Awareness
Month with Us!
May is Water Awareness Month, and the San Diego County Water Authority is providing an array of free events and resources to help water users increase their knowledge of important water supply issues and how to use our region's precious water resources efficiently. Activities during Water Awareness Month include: May 1- Water Talks: The Colorado River and its Future May 5 - San Diego County Garden Friendly Plant Fair May 19 - June 23 WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Workshops All month - WaterSmart Checkups "A Homeowners Guide to a WaterSmart Landscape" Giveaways - Pick up your free copy at the April 28 Spring Festival at the Conservation Garden or on May 11 at the San Diego Botanic Garden as part of National Public Gardens Day |
Appellate Court Denies MWD Petition to Prevent Discovery in Rates Case
On April 19, California's 1st Appellate District Court of Appeal summarily denied a writ petition by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California seeking to prevent discovery in a lawsuit filed by the San Diego County Water Authority challenging MWD's 2011 and 2012 rates. MWD filed the writ petition March 6, 60 days after San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer granted a motion by the Imperial Irrigation District and the Water Authority to permit discovery in the case.
"Since this case was filed, MWD has used every procedural maneuver in the book to delay our efforts to look behind the curtain and get to the bottom of its discriminatory and illegal rates," said Daniel Purcell, special counsel for the Water Authority with the law firm of Keker and Van Nest, San Francisco. "This writ petition was just more of the same. Fortunately the Court of Appeal didn't buy MWD's argument. We're happy that we will be able to move on and take discovery now. We have reasonable questions that deserve truthful answers, and we're confident that discovery will only reveal even more bad facts about how MWD and some of its member agencies have conspired to violate the law, discriminate against San Diego County ratepayers, and enrich themselves at the San Diego region's expense." To learn more about the lawsuit, click here. |
Board of Directors Extends Temporary Agricultural Water Rate Program
The Board of Directors has approved extending a temporary agricultural water rate program through January 1, 2015. The action provides the region's agriculture industry with a measure of economic relief while providing urban water customers increased protection from water shortages. Growers and farmers who participate in the program, called the Transitional Special Agricultural Water Rate program, receive a lower level of water service during water shortages or emergencies. In exchange, they are exempt from paying storage and other charges from the Water Authority that help fund programs that provide greater water supply reliability during shortages or emergencies.The temporary program, approved by the Board in March 2010, was originally scheduled to run through the end of December 2012. Program participants this year receive a cost benefit of $212 per acre-foot. Fore more information about the extension, click here. |
