South County Report: Water Agency Demands Retraction From Former Board Member 

Lawyers for the Sweetwater Authority water agency are demanding that former authority board member Josie Calderon-Scott retract claims she made recently to Voice of San Diego that the authority knew about elevated levels of toxic industrial chemicals in its main reservoir years before alerting the public. 

But Calderon-Scott said she’s not backing down. And she challenged the authority to produce documents that she said would settle the issue. 

In a May 23 letter, lawyers for the agency’s law firm, Best, Best & Krieger, demanded that Calderon-Scott retract claims she made in a May 13 Voice newsletter that the agency knew “for years it had a PFAS [chemicals] problem in its reservoir” and that “this problem existed for a long time before [the agency] notified the public.” 

Those statements, the lawyers wrote, “are false and untrue, are defamatory, and create alarming confusion for residents served by the authority.” 

PFAS chemicals – also known as “forever chemicals” because of their persistence in the environment – are a class of chemicals used in a wide variety of industrial and household products. Federal authorities have targeted them as a major environmental problem because they have been shown to cause cancer and other serious health conditions in laboratory testing. 

The agency lawyers also accused Calderon-Scott of appearing to share information from confidential closed-session board meetings, which the lawyers claim is against the law and could result in disciplinary action. 

“We suggest you review Government Code section 54963, which sets out remedies available to the Authority resulting from breach of the obligation to maintain information received in closed session as confidential,” the lawyers wrote, quoting from a portion of California law that enables government agencies to discipline employees who disclose confidential information. 

Calderon-Scott, who served on the agency’s governing board from 2016 to 2024, said she stands by her assertions. She said she did not share confidential information and is not intimidated by the letter. 

“They’re trying to bully me to be afraid,” she said. “Of course I’m not going to retract [my statements] because of course it was all true.” 

The dispute centers on when the authority, which supplies drinking water to much of south San Diego County, first learned there were elevated levels of toxic PFAS chemicals in Sweetwater Reservoir. 

Authority officials maintain they first learned of the chemicals’ presence in the reservoir last October, when new federal guidelines mandated PFAS testing in the agency’s water supply. 

Calderon-Scott said that claim is simply not true. She said earlier test results show officials knew for years there were PFAS chemicals in the reservoir. Calderon-Scott said the agency did not publicize those results because federal rules did not mandate disclosure at the time and officials wanted to avoid creating alarm or drawing legal scrutiny. 

“I independently verified through conversations with people at Sweetwater Authority and looking at test results and other documents that the authority knew it had elevated levels of PFAS chemicals in the Sweetwater Reservoir since at least 2021,” Calderon-Scott said. 

Calderon-Scott pointed out that in 2023, the agency joined a class-action lawsuit filed by a nationwide group of public water agencies seeking damages from chemical manufacturers whose PFAS products ended up in public drinking water supplies. 

Since water agencies had to prove there were PFAS chemicals in their water supply to join the lawsuit, Calderon-Scott said the date of the suit alone shows Sweetwater officials knew at least two years ago there were PFAS chemicals in the reservoir. 

“Look at the dates of the class-action lawsuit,” she said. “That in itself already shows they knew there was a PFAS problem.” 

Voice asked the authority for a copy of water-quality test results submitted as part of the agency’s class-action claim. A spokesperson said the authority would not share the test results because they are protected by attorney-client privilege. 

Jenny Windle, a Sweetwater Authority spokesperson, said it is Calderon-Scott who is making false statements about PFAS testing.

“The bottom line is Calderon-Scott’s assertion that the Authority knew about PFAS in the reservoir as far back as 2021 and discussed it during a board meeting is false,” Windle said in a statement.

Windle pointed out that previous annual agency water quality reports show that the agency did not test for PFAS in Sweetwater Reservoir because it was not required to. Windle said the agency has followed all federal testing guidelines and has shared results of PFAS testing with the public.

Windle said the letter sent to Calderon-Scott by agency lawyers was intended “both to remind [Calderon-Scott] of her ongoing obligations [not to disclose confidential information] and to formally request a retraction to correct the false and misleading narrative presented in [Voice of San Diego].”

Calderon-Scott said she believes the agency is trying to silence her because they do not want the public to know what she learned during her time on the governing board. 

“They try to threaten me,” she said. “I’m not backing down.” 

New Coastal Commission Member Seeks Faster Home Construction 

Chula Vista City Councilmember Jose Preciado joins the powerful California Coastal Commission this month – and he knows exactly what he wants to do there. 

“My primary interest in joining the commission was to continue to be an advocate for the kind of development we’ve had in Chula Vista,” Preciado said.  

Preciado held up his city’s massive bayfront redevelopment project as an example of the kind of denser, housing-rich development California needs in many of its coastal communities. 

State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas appointed Preciado to replace outgoing Commissioner Paloma Aguirre, the Imperial Beach mayor who is currently running for county supervisor. Aguirre’s two-year term on the commission ended May 20. 

The Coastal Commission is one of California’s most powerful governmental agencies. Created in 1972 to regulate coastal development and protect public access to California’s shoreline, the commission has drawn both praise and consternation for its scrutiny of coastal development projects and its willingness to battle wealthy property owners. 

Aguirre used her time on the commission to advance environmental priorities and draw attention to south San Diego County’s ongoing sewage crisis in the Tijuana River. 

Preciado, a Democrat elected to the Chula Vista Council in 2022, said he wants to continue Aguirre’s environmental advocacy while also ensuring the commission does not unnecessarily slow or block badly needed economic development in coastal cities. 

“We need more infill and more density,” he said, referring to development projects built in the middle of cities rather than sprawling at the fringes of urban areas. 

As the threat of wildfires raises insurance prices and makes it increasingly difficult to build in far-flung areas, Preciado said denser coastal cities will have to greenlight more construction to keep pace with state housing needs. 

“We need more infill and more density where it’s still safe” to build, he said. 

In prioritizing home construction alongside environmental concerns, Preciado joins a growing number of California Democrats willing to buck – even if slightly – their party’s longstanding commitment to environmental preservation. 

This year, fellow South County lawmaker Assemblymember David Alvarez has introduced or voiced support for a series of bills aimed at speeding up home construction by modifying state environmental rules – including restricting the Coastal Commission’s ability to block housing projects under certain conditions in coastal areas. 

“It’s no secret that housing scarcity has created a problem here in San Diego and throughout the state of California,” Preciado said. “The people left out of housing are traditionally groups that are lower income. All of us in various ways are trying to find ways to expand the inventory of housing.” 

In Other News 

Chula Vista Mayor John McCann will deliver his annual State of the City speech this evening at the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center at the Chula Vista bayfront. McCann is expected to showcase the resort, which opened earlier this month, as evidence that Chula Vista is becoming a regional economic leader. Also likely to feature in the speech: New housing projects in east Chula Vista, the city’s response to a summer wildfire near Otay Mountain, efforts to resolve the city’s homelessness problem, and the recently adopted city budget, which fully funds city services without – as McCann, who is running for County Supervisor, likes to point out on the campaign trail – raising taxes or raiding city reserves. 

The Chula Vista-based Community Congregational Development Corporation has awarded $200,000 to the charity Serving Seniors, which provides rental subsidies and other supportive services to older San Diego County residents at risk of becoming homeless. The award comes on top of an earlier $350,000 grant from the corporation that enabled Serving Seniors to help 30 older South Bay residents remain in their homes and provide support, activities and service referrals to roughly 1,500 lower income San Diegans. The grants are part of the development corporation’s mission to serve vulnerable older residents in San Diego County. 

Attention, parents: Looking for a way to keep your kids occupied this summer? The Living Coast Discovery Center at the Chula Vista bayfront is conducting a series of one-week wildlife-themed summer camps for kids from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade starting June 9. The camps will include nature walks, arts and crafts activities and hands-on experiences with the center’s collection of native Southern California wildlife. Half-day camps are $250. Full-day costs $360. More information and registration here.