A coalition of county, city and labor officials held a news conference Friday morning to make their case against two North County rural water districts leaving the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA).
In updated numbers released this week, the SDCWA reported that it would cost San Diegans nearly $200 million over a decade if Fallbrook Public Utility District and Rainbow Municipal Water District were allowed to leave the 24-member agency.
La Mesa Vice Mayor Colin Parent said that was unfair to his constituents. The Helix Water District, which services La Mesa, was projected to pay an additional $1.2 million-plus if those two agencies leave.
“It's not fair for ratepayers in North County to pay less so that the rest of the region, including East County, have to pay for more," Parent said. "That just doesn't make any sense.”
Fallbrook PUD and Rainbow MWD want to leave the 24-member SDCWA to buy cheaper water from Riverside County's Eastern Municipal Water District in a process called detachment.
The decision on whether Fallbrook PUD and Rainbow MWD can detach rests on the San Diego County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) — a little-known government agency set up to settle these disputes.
Officials opposing the detachment include San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas, San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jerry Sanders, and San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council board member Carol Kim.
Vargas said she was worried about the long-term effect of detachment because it would hurt low-income communities the hardest.
"They're going to feel the financial increase the hardest, and that's just not fair. It's unnecessary," she said. "Increase in water bills means taking money away each month from hardworking families who can least afford it."
Vargas, Parent and the rest urged LAFCO commissioners to vote no on detachment. Whitburn is the vice chair of the commission but said the process had largely been driven by staff and commissioners would have their say at the meeting Monday.
The issue boils down to the high cost of water in San Diego. Last month, the Water Authority board voted to increase the wholesale rate by 9.5% for 2024. The increase was partly blamed on inflation.
Mel Katz, chair of the Water Authority, said San Diego paid more for water because of the investments made in the past 20 years for water reliability.
"We invested millions and millions of dollars so that when we have the drought that just finished and is going to come back we were not affected here in San Diego County because we had plenty of water," he said.
But Jack Bebee, general manager of Fallbrook PUD, said his customers did not benefit from those investments and it was unfair that they should bear those costs.
“We don't need their infrastructure. I don't get desalinated water from them. So what am I paying an additional $200 million for?" he said. "And I think the point they're making is exactly why we're looking to leave because our agricultural community can't afford to pay $200 million to fund the rest of the county.”
According to LAFCO’s analysis, Fallbrook and Rainbow would save $7 million a year by detaching. That’s good for Fallbrook and Rainbow farmers but not for the rest of the farmers in the county.
Frank Hilliker, an egg farmer in Lakeside and a Water Authority board member, said 70% of the agricultural industries were outside of those two areas and would see increased costs.
"It harms farmers like me who will have to be forced to pay more," he said.
Hilliker said his chickens drank more water in a day than some people use in a month.
LAFCO commissioners are expected to vote on the issue at Monday’s commission meeting.
