Legal War Could Raise Local Water Rates

A loss in a legal battle for one of San Gabriel Valley’s largest wholesale water districts could mean significant increases in water rates for local customers in Los Angeles County, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported Tuesday.

As Three Valleys Municipal Water District joins the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) in a legal war against San Diego County Water Authority, Three Valleys officials said that if San Diego wins and leaves the water districts out of negotiations for cheaper rates, customers could expect to see a 30 percent rate increase, according to the paper.

Foothill Municipal Water District serving Altadena, La Crescenta and La Canada Flintridge is also signed onto the lawsuit with MWD

By Three Valleys’ estimates, it could pay up to $2.5 million more a year from MWD, according to The Tribune.

Most of Altadena receives water through the Foothill Municipal Water District, though there are also some Pasadena Water and Power customers.

In the lawsuit, San Diego's water company is challenging MWD’s rate structure and allocation of costs. In response, MWD is accusing plaintiff San Diego of trying to make MWD’s 26 water agencies pay for a botched side water purchase from Imperial County in 2003, a decision MWD says cost San Diego's water company $200 million.

“If San Diego is successful, water ratepayers in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino will see cumulative costs of a staggering $3 billion shifted to them over the 75-year period,” Three Valleys wrote in a prepared statement.

However, San Diego's water company is claiming a “secret shadow government” within MWD is pushing millions of unjustified charges onto San Diego County ratepayers, according to the North County Times.

“MWD is supposed to be governed by its duly appointed governing body: a 37-member board of directors appointed by Metropolitan Water District’s 26 member agencies,” said Michael T. Hogan, chair of the San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors in a press statement.  “But, for more than two years, major decisions at MWD have first been determined by a shadow government operating in secrecy, outside the public’s view, and then rubber-stamped by a majority of MWD’s Board of Directors.”

In a letter to the San Diego Union-Tribune, MWD General Manager Jeffery Kightlinger denied the allegation and accused SDCWA of “tactics” to “deceive” the public about SDCWA’s decision to “purchase expensive water from the Imperial Irrigation District instead of buying cheaper water from Metropolitan.”

According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Kightlinger is hoping to conclude the case in the fall.