{"id":227840,"date":"2026-03-20T02:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T02:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/227840\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T02:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T02:08:10","slug":"water-authority-announces-long-term-sale-of-surplus-to-riverside-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/227840\/","title":{"rendered":"Water authority announces long-term sale of surplus to Riverside County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Olivenhain<\/a>The Olivenhain Dam, completed in 2003, is one of the San Diego County Water Authority\u2019s capacity investments. (Photo courtesy of the Water Authority)<\/p>\n

The San Diego County Water Authority<\/a> on Thursday announced a 21-year agreement to sell surplus water to the Western Municipal Water District<\/a> in Riverside County, potentially offsetting costs for local customers.<\/p>\n

Western Municipal, which serves nearly 1 million residents in western Riverside County, will pay $13.5 million annually for 10,000 acre-feet of water \u2014 enough for 30,000 homes. It will also pay $40 million up front for the equivalent of three-years supply that can be tapped in case of an drought emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement is a win for San Diego ratepayers, a win for Western, and a win for Southern\u00a0 California,\u201d said Water Authority Board Chair Nick Serrano. \u201cIt allows us to maximize the value\u00a0 of the investments San Diego County residents made over decades, strengthen water reliability,\u00a0 and do so in a way that is mindful of affordability and public responsibility.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thanks to three decades of investment in aqueduct improvements, increased dam capacity and desalination, the Water Authority projects ample supply through 2050, even if there are multiple dry years. Because of that, the authority is seeking to sell surplus water to reduce rate increases for\u00a0San Diego County customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county\u2019s ratepayers continue to benefit from investments in water conservation that give us flexibility to balance water affordability and reliability,\u201d said Water Authority General Manager\u00a0Dan Denham. \u201cThis agreement would not have been possible without the incredible team at\u00a0 Western Water that shares our commitment to visionary leadership and collaboration in\u00a0 developing a new way to think about water resources.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Western Water officials said the partnership strengthens long-term water planning for their region by securing\u00a0 access to highly reliable supplies at \u201cone of the most cost-effective\u201d rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cPartnerships like this show what is possible when water agencies work together,\u201d said Laura\u00a0 Roughton, president of Western Water\u2019s board of directors. \u201cBy sharing secured resources, we\u00a0 can strengthen water reliability for our communities while freeing up supplies that are needed\u00a0 elsewhere across the region. It\u2019s a win for our customers, a win for San Diego, and a win for\u00a0Southern California\u2019s water system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Water purchased by Western Water will be delivered through existing connections within the\u00a0 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California<\/a>\u2019s regional pipeline system, meaning no new\u00a0 infrastructure is required.<\/p>\n

The long-term agreement drew immediate praise from San Diego political and business leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe San Diego County Water Authority has worked for decades to ensure our community has enough water no matter the weather. Now, the Water Authority is taking another strategic step forward with water transfers that will help control wholesale water
costs. This is a major win for our region,\u201d said Rep. Scott Peters in a statement.<\/p>\n

Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp.<\/a>, called the agreement \u201ca smart, forward-looking approach that helps control wholesale water rates while ensuring the reliable supply our regional economy depends on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Water Authority is exploring other water sales opportunities. Earlier this year, the board approved an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to explore a pilot program that\u00a0could allow desalinated seawater to be exchanged with Colorado River Basin states.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Olivenhain Dam, completed in 2003, is one of the San Diego County Water Authority\u2019s capacity investments. (Photo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[29982,42556,74,56651,76,75,25823,646,103616],"class_list":["post-227840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-rates","tag-sales","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county-water-authority","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-supply","tag-water","tag-western-municipal-water-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227840","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=227840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}