Water Authority Dismisses Certain Legal Claims Against MWd

​After securing more than $350 million in “Water Stewardship Rate” benefits for the San Diego region, the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors voted in February to dismiss related claims against the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The action highlights the Water Authority’s commitment to move forward as partners on critical water issues facing our region and represents a major step toward resolving the litigation, which has been pending for more than 10 years.

The lawsuits challenged water rates and charges imposed by MWD on San Diego agencies and their ratepayers from 2010-2018. The Water Authority’s Board action will allow the parties to avoid a trial scheduled for June 2020, and clear the way for judgment to be entered in the older cases.

The Water Authority Board has worked to resolve these matters for more than three years. In the past few months, those efforts gained momentum as the two wholesale water agencies traded settlement offers. When those proposals didn’t produce an agreement, the Water Authority Board decided to take unilateral action consistent with its settlement offer.

The Water Authority’s action was partly a response to MWD Board of Directors approving more than $350 million for three water supply projects in San Diego County:

• $285.6 million for the City of San Diego’s Pure Water Project
  
• $23.6 million for the Fallbrook Groundwater Desalter Project
  
• $42.7 million for the City of Oceanside Pure Water & Recycled Water Expansion Phase

Click here to learn more about the rate case litigation, including Water Authority’s Feb. 27 letter to MWD.