Re “As water rates rise, S.D. urged to seek changes from agency” (Jan. 19): Each San Diego County Water Authority member agency has one vote weighted in proportion to past financial contributions. The city vote is about 42% of the voting power — effective control. “Wrong-sized” infrastructure and supply contracts are the consequence of misguided “never again” rationing policies and over-optimistic demand forecasts intended to keep rates low by shifting expense recovery to future customers when local reuse investments will result in demand “roll off” for imported water at big member agencies. A market for supply contracts will surely develop after new Colorado River allocation rules are established later this year, but it will be several decades before expensive, long-lived infrastructure investments can be “right-sized” — long after reuse results in imported demand “roll off.”
Weighing the number of member agency directors proportionate to more current demand (e.g., seven years), and weighing each director vote equally, is surely a more equitable division of policy-making power financially and generationally.
— Gary Hurst, Ramona