As the year draws to an end, many people reflect on the year that has past and make plans for the upcoming year.   Here at RMWD we are no different.   2015 will be a memorable year for us for many reasons.   As an unprecedented drought entered its fourth year, San Diego County was well prepared, with our investments in supply reliability providing for over 99% of our projected demands.

Fall has arrived here in San Diego County and a wet winter is not too far behind.  We have all been dealing with water shortages for so long we almost forget what it is like when we get prolonged periods of rainfall.  While many of us have seen El Nino's sputter out over the years, the forecasters are saying that this one is here to stay.

Rainbow MWD met our conservation standard in August - conserving 38% compared to 2013! Well done!  It is clear that our customers are doing what they can to eliminate water waste. Outdoor irrigation is the largest part of our water use in this area so this is where you can make a big difference.

As many of you know, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has established mandatory conservation levels for all water agencies in the State in May of this year.   A tiered system of conservation levels was established and RMWD was placed in the 36% reduction category.  Each month, we are compelled to report our total residential consumption and our target is to use 36% less water than…

In July 2015 State Assembly Member Waldron presented RMWD with a Certificate of Recognition from the State Assembly for our recent award of a Transparency Certificate of Excellence from the Special District Leadership Foundation. The Transparency Certificate is awarded to public agencies who demonstrate a core value of open and transparent practice of governance for the public. RMWD’s Board…

As you are aware, the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) has implemented its Drought Management Plan which includes a mandatory 15% cutback for TSAWR customers. Failure to meet these cutback targets may result in penalties from SDCWA that could reach over $2 Million – or more. At the June 23, 2015 Board meeting, the RMWD Board of Directors adopted four policies designed to help TSAWR…

There has been a lot of media coverage of the drought lately and how it will impact water customers in San Diego County. There has also been a lot of what appear to be conflicting messages coming from Rainbow MWD and from some media sources. I fully understand the confusion – this has been an extraordinary period for local water agencies. We have never had the State step in to enforce certain…

California is facing a serious water shortage due to four straight years of poor rain and snowpack in the Sierras. A similar drought in the early 1990’s demonstrated that reliance on imported water from the Sierras put our region and economy at the mercy of sometimes mercurial weather patterns. Over the last 20 years, the San Diego region has invested nearly $3 Billion in projects designed to…

Drought Update: On April 1st the Governor issued an Emergency Executive Order related to the ongoing drought. I wish I could report that this is an April Fool’s joke but it is not. As you may have seen in the press, the site where the final snow survey was done had zero snow where a few feet should be resting at this time of year. The snow pack in the Sierras was the lowest in the history of…

As many long time area residents have noticed, this has been an unusual winter season. December started out quite wet, and we even got a good dusting of snow at low elevations right at the end of the month. This was a promising start to the wet season that we hoped could help stave off the drought. Unfortunately, January and February have not cooperated, both here in San Diego County and in the…

Over the last several weeks, Rainbow’s Board President and GM have held a series of meeting with FPUD and LAFCO to see if we could resolve this issue amicably and get back to the business of serving our ratepayers. During these meetings RMWD reiterated our objection to the unfair and illegal at-large voting system proposed by FPUD and offered that we would accept a merger if we could simply let…

Rainbow MWD has a lot of important activities going on in 2015 – here is an outlook for the year. First off is the drought. Since RMWD has a great deal of agricultural water consumption, a lingering drought in the Sierras means a greater chance that water restrictions and mandatory allocations could begin next year. We are working with our other North County agencies and the San Diego County Water…