San Diego Deserves Representation That Defends Its Water Future

Marco Gonzalez is the executive director of the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation.  

For decades, the city of San Diego has worked toward one of the most ambitious and environmentally responsible infrastructure projects in its history: the Pure Water San Diego Program, a multi-phase effort that will provide nearly half of the city’s water supply locally by 2035. This project represents not only technological innovation and environmental stewardship, but also hard-won progress toward water independence — freeing San Diego from the volatile grip of imported water from the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and the Colorado River.

So it was both shocking and deeply disappointing to read the recent opinion piece by Jim Madaffer, one of the city’s appointed representative to the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA), in which he publicly questioned the city’s approach to water independence and parroted talking points that have long served the interests of the very agencies that profit from keeping San Diego dependent on imported water.

Madaffer’s statements — defending the Metropolitan Water District and criticizing the city’s Pure Water initiative — are not only misguided but fundamentally inconsistent with his duty to represent the city’s interests at the Water Authority. His op-ed effectively undermines the city’s negotiating position in critical ongoing discussions about regional water rates, supply diversification, and infrastructure investments. As an appointed representative, his loyalty should be to San Diego’s residents and ratepayers — not to external agencies or entrenched water bureaucracies.

The city of San Diego’s commitment to water independence is more than a policy choice; it is a moral and environmental imperative. With climate change intensifying drought cycles and threatening imported water supplies, local reuse and recycling are not luxuries — they are survival strategies. Pure Water San Diego is an exemplar of forward-thinking water policy, supported by environmental organizations, state regulators, and communities across the region. It is precisely the kind of innovation that state and federal governments should be encouraging — not the kind that should be belittled by the city’s own representative.

If Madaffer cannot or will not advocate for San Diego’s independence in water policy, then he should step aside or be removed by Mayor Todd Gloria. The city deserves a representative at the Water Authority who will fight to protect its investments, advance its sustainability goals, and speak with one voice on behalf of the public interest — not one who undermines those goals in the pages of the local newspaper.

The future of San Diego’s water supply is too important to be politicized or sabotaged from within. The city’s leadership must act swiftly to replace Madaffer with someone who understands that the path to true resilience lies in local control, sustainability, and innovation — not allegiance to outdated, centralized water systems that have failed both our ratepayers and our environment.

San Diego deserves better. And our water future depends on it.