San Diego has so much water it has now agreed to sell some of it to a new client. The San Diego County Water Authority and Western Municipal Water District agreed to a deal where San Diego would provide its northern neighbor water for 21 years, enough to supply 30,000 households per year.
It was the first deal of those hinted at for many months as Water Authority leaders struggled to answer critics incensed with skyrocketing water bills. They said it would bring in $100 million over just the first five years. Western Municipal Water District covers Southwest Riverside County, including Temecula, a fast-growing region that will welcome the water security.
What’s next: The Water Authority also announced several weeks ago that it had drafted an agreement with the federal government that could pave the way for deals like this to happen with out-of-state clients. The deal would allow San Diego to talk to the feds and representatives of Nevada and Arizona about how to do that.
However, nobody else has actually signed the deal yet.
Our MacKenzie Elmer writes that nailing a hoped-for deal to allow San Diego to sell its excess water to water-starved communities in other states will be much more challenging.
Why non-water wonks should care: San Diego’s water rates are soaring and local leaders see an opportunity to sell to thirsty communities elsewhere, potentially lowering costs for San Diegans.
South County Report: Chula Vista’s Surprising Revenue Woes
Chula Vistans might have expected the city to pull in more property and hotel-tax money this year following the opening of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center.
Not so, our Jim Hinch reports in his latest South County Report.
A Chula Vista city official told Hinch that hotels close to the U.S.-Mexico border are booking fewer guests and home sales are down. Oh, and the Gaylord hotel tax hauls are helping repay bonds issued by the city and the Port of San Diego to cover hotel construction, rather than flowing to the city’s bottom line.
Also in this week’s South Bay dispatch: the latest on Imperial Beach’s quest to boost its image.
Newly Homeless Once Again Outpace Newly Housed
The number of people becoming homeless in San Diego County outpaced the number moving into homes in February. The Regional Task Force on Homelessness reports that 1,041 people became homeless for the first time and 909 exited homelessness.
Your monthly reminder: For most of the last few years, local efforts to house homeless residents haven’t kept up with the flood of people losing their homes. That equation must change to dramatically reduce homelessness.
In Other News
- An expanded county program offering free legal defense to detained immigrants and unaccompanied minors could face a funding crisis next year. (Union-Tribune)
- Four families have sued Rady Children’s Health, alleging that the system violated their transgender children’s civil rights when it decided to halt gender-affirming care. (CalMatters)
- City Councilmember Raul Campillo’s push to maintain free parking at city beaches and bays crossed an initial hurdle earlier this week. (NBC 7)
- City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s ballot proposal to minimize the influence of “dark money” at City Hall also advanced this week. (City News Service)
- Transit riders, prepare yourselves: Metropolitan Transit System fares are likely going up soon. (Union-Tribune) Related: MTS says ridership has been down since July and it’s blaming the 1.3 percent drop since July on federal immigration enforcement and reduced leisure trips amid skyrocketing living costs that are hitting low-income riders. (Union-Tribune)
- Our Lisa Halverstadt has recently been writing about county board subcommittees that are meeting behind closed doors. This week, Supervisors Joel Anderson and Paloma Aguirre held their first Fiscal Transparency & Accountability Ad-Hoc Subcommittee gathering with a public briefing on the county’s contracting process. You can watch that meeting here.
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.
Parabéns pelo conteúdo! A abordagem sobre igreen é pirâmide ficou muito clara e objetiva.