Those hefty rate hikes could possibly shrink substantially if the water authority limits large capital projects, reduces operating expenses and finds a way to \u201cright size\u201d its water supply, according to the city\u2019s independent budget analyst.<\/p>\n
The fundamental problem facing the water authority is that it\u2019s contractually obligated to buy more water than its member agencies typically need, forcing it to raise rates to cover its built-in costs.<\/p>\n
Those increases essentially get passed on to local water agencies, including the city of San Diego, which must increase their rates accordingly.<\/p>\n
The water authority is contractually obligated to buy 325,700 acre feet of water per year, primarily from the Colorado River and the Carlsbad Desalination Plant. Local water sales by the authority, which dropped to 323,781 acre feet last year, have continued to steadily dwindle.<\/p>\n
![\"....The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/SUT-L-WATER-STRATEGY-9.jpg\")
The Carlsbad Desalination Plant on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 in Carlsbad, CA. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ UT file)<\/p>\n
While the mayor and City Council often complain publicly about the water authority and urge its leaders to make changes, the new set of recommendations from the IBA suggests a more direct route.<\/p>\n
The city controls 10 of the 34 seats on the water authority\u2019s board, allowing the city to play a key role in its management decisions.<\/p>\n
The recommendations, which were written by the IBA\u2019s Jordan More, are characterized as marching orders for the \u201ccity 10\u201d when the water authority launches its 2026 legislative calendar this Thursday.<\/p>\n
One key recommendation is that the city 10 demand the water authority create a new business plan within one year.<\/p>\n
Such a fundamental move would \u201ccritically evaluate CWA operations and provide options to help guide the organization towards a path to sustainability given declining regional demand,\u201d More said.<\/p>\n
The new business plan should evaluate a proposed new operations site, the future of the Twin Oaks Treatment Plant, future reservoir projects and other initiatives, More said.<\/p>\n
More stressed that San Diego water officials have already postponed major infrastructure projects three years to save money and shrink rate hikes, contending it wouldn\u2019t be too much to ask the water authority to follow suit.<\/p>\n
More noted that the Metropolitan Water District, which faces some of the same challenges as the water authority, recently began updating its business plan.<\/p>\n
Another key recommendation for the city 10 is demanding that the water authority negotiate deals to sell excess water to agencies outside the region \u2013 most likely out of state \u2013 within one year.<\/p>\n
More said timing is crucial on such deals, which CWA officials have already agreed to solicit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis next year will be vital in securing a deal to offload water supplies as each of the region\u2019s water recycling projects is projected to start producing water in the next 18 months,\u201d said More, referring to sewage recycling projects in Oceanside, East County and San Diego.<\/p>\n
More said the water authority deserves credit for making some notable budget cuts and reaching a legal settlement with the Metropolitan Water District that allows out-of-state sales.<\/p>\n
But he said bigger moves are needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough progress has begun, more rapid and holistic changes are needed quickly to have a lasting and dramatic impact on rates,\u201d More said.<\/p>\n
More said one reason for optimism is that the water authority\u2019s long-range financial plan, the document predicting rate increases as large as 150% by 2035, doesn\u2019t include any water sales to outside agencies and doesn\u2019t include any sort of dramatic changes to the authority\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n
The city 10 includes Nick Serrano, City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, Jimmy Ayala, Jim Madaffer, Venus Molina, Jerry Butkiewicz, Ismahan Abdullahi, Tim Douglass, Lois Fong-Sakai and Val Macedo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Budget analysts for San Diego say city officials should demand big changes at the cash-strapped County Water Authority,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,23,205,100,13,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-140848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-local-politics","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-headlines","15":"tag-san-diego-news","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}