You’d think two public agencies working toward the same basic mission – delivering water – would be able to get along.
That’s not the case between San Diego County Water Authority and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and hasn’t been for some time.
In fact, they’ve spent about $33 million in court to battle each other on just one issue.
See, things turned sour in the 1990s, when a major drought prompted Metropolitan to consider massive water cutbacks affecting the whole region, including San Diego.
So San Diego decided it wanted its own supply of water instead of depending on Metropolitan.
That began a quarter-century quest by San Diego to distance itself from Metropolitan and become water independent.
Ry Rivard and NBC 7’s Catherine Garcia have more on the feud on this week’s San Diego Explained.