Metropolitan Water District representative Cynthia Kurtz reported that the agency has 3.4 million acre-feet of water in storage, enough to meet the future demand of its customers regardless of the weather.
California is set to adopt regulations that will allow for sewage to be extensively treated, transformed into pure drinking water and delivered directly to people’s taps.
The regulations are expected to be approved Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, enabling water suppliers to begin building advanced treatment plants that will turn wastewater into a source of clean drinking water.
Millions of Southern Californians who were required to dramatically reduce their water use last year will have increased access to water under two projects recently announced by the Metropolitan Water District.
In a pivotal move addressing California’s water conservation goals and reinforcing partnerships in the face of the ongoing Colorado River drought, the Metropolitan Water District is seeking authorization for its General Manager to establish agreements with the Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, and San Diego County Water Authority. These agreements aim to facilitate the addition of water to Lake Mead under the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program for the year 2023.
Oceanside residents will soon see a double-digit increase over the next two years after two years of no increase to their rates at all.
“Anytime we see something like this come forward, especially when cost-of-living generally is going up across-the-board and people are really struggling to make ends meet, this is considered very heavily,” Councilmember Eric Joyce said.
Councilmembers unanimously approved the new rates Wednesday.
San Diego County and Southern California water industry leaders commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), cited as a model of collaboration, relationship building, and voluntary conservation efforts among Southern California’s water agencies.
The QSA is a historic set of water agreements enabling California to live within its Colorado River apportionment, helping provide reliable water supplies for all users. Speakers at the commemoration event highlighted how the QSA continues to meet its goals while protecting agriculture and addressing the environment.
Learn more about the significance of the historic QSA in this video presentation.
San Diego County Water Authority (Water Authority) Board Chair Mel Katz described the positive change in water management ushered in by the QSA as “a set of more than two dozen agreements that represent the dawn of a new era in water management in San Diego County and the Southwest – an era of water efficiency and supply reliability despite climate extremes.” Katz recognized the conservation efforts of the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) and Imperial Valley farmers.
San Diego County Water Authority Board Chair Mel Katz speaks at the Quantification Settlement Agreement 20th Anniversary celebration. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
IID Board President Alex Cardenas reported Imperial County agriculture has conserved 7.5 million acre-feet over the 20 years of the agreement, while still enabling agriculture to succeed. The Valley’s agricultural economy has grown from $1.8 billion in 2003 to $2.6 billion in 2023. according to the latest crop reports.
Water Authority General Manager Dan Denham said the Water Authority, IID, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), and the Coachella Valley Water District continue to work together to ensure flexibility in how the river is managed and the needs of each agency are met. “We are getting to a place where we can be creative and do things differently.”
MWD General Manager Adel Hagekhalil called the QSA a great success and a great lesson. “We all came together. It was tough, but it was important.”
California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot congratulated the QSA partners on their achievement via a video message, calling it a “game changer” that remains as important today as it was 20 years ago. U.S. Senator Alex Padilla also offered his congratulations via a video message, crediting the leadership of all partners for their efforts to sustain the QSA.
Invited guests listen to water industry leaders and elected officials recognize the 20th anniversary of the Quantification Settlement Agreement. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
San Diego Assemblyman David Alvarez told those gathered it was important to celebrate what was accomplished through the QSA. “The significance to me of the QSA is the listening that occurred,” he said, noting that the QSA brought agencies together to listen to each other as partners to create a set of mutually beneficial agreements.
Colorado River Board of California Vice Chair and Water Authority board member Jim Madaffer said the QSA provides a model of flexible river management, calling it a lesson “that we are so much better when working together than separately.”
Looking toward the challenges ahead on the river, water industry leaders noted the QSA must be a part of critical water discussions as agencies seek collaborative solutions to ensure the Colorado River can continue to be a reliable water source well into the future.
The first stage of a new groundwater storage project in the Antelope Valley is now up and running after three years of construction.
The High Desert Water Bank, which is through a partnership with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency (AVEK), has the capacity to store and withdraw enough water to serve about 210,000 Southern California homes each year.
In their efforts to break away from the San Diego County Water Authority, two small farming communities have run into a powerful and unexpected foe: The Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
At least, they ran into the man who chairs Metropolitan’s board: Adán Ortega Jr., a water policy consultant and former lobbyist elected in October to lead at Met.
In a historic consensus, California, alongside the six other states that rely on the Colorado River for survival, announced an agreement last week for a plan to cut back water usage over the next three years.
The proposal drafted by the three lower basin states – California, Arizona and Nevada – would cut water use from the river by at least 3 million acre-feet by the end of 2026 through conservation to prevent the river’s reservoirs from falling to critically low levels.
The Colorado River deal announced Monday is more of a temporary reprieve than a solution to plummeting water supplies. The deep water cuts for California, Arizona and Nevada will tide over thirsty residents and farmers only until the end of 2026. The real reckoning comes when operating agreements expire for Lake Mead, which feeds the Colorado’s water to Southern California and the two other lower-basin states, and Lake Powell, which regulates the flow into Lake Mead while serving Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.
