Water customers in North County overwhelmingly approve divorce from regional agency - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Water customers in North County overwhelmingly approve divorce from regional agency - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Water customers in North County overwhelmingly approve divorce from regional agency

Roughly 19 of every 20 Fallbrook and Rainbow area voters support leaving San Diego County Water Authority, early election returns show

Voters across two North County water districts overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure to break away from the San Diego County Water Authority, capping a years-long effort to divorce from the regional agency.

In unofficial election results from the Tuesday election, roughly 19 of every 20 ballots cast by residents of the Rainbow Municipal Water District and the Fallbrook Public Utilities District supported leaving the county water authority.

“We are extremely grateful to the people of Fallbrook and Rainbow for their strong support of these measures,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

“Our ratepayers have had to weather the impact of skyrocketing wholesale water rates over the past decade and it has taken a toll on everyone — especially our farming community,” it added. “Now, in no uncertain terms, they have expressed their desire to go in a different direction.”

According to the county registrar, the so-called detachment question was leading among Fallbrook area voters by 4,492 to 269. Voters in the Rainbow district were supporting the divorce by an even larger margin, 4,924 to 239.

Votes are still being counted, and the results have yet to be finalized, although any change in the outcome appears unlikely.

The two districts are now poised to join the Eastern Municipal Water District, a sprawling jurisdiction that serves much of Riverside County.

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The vote all but closes an issue that has been hotly debated for years: rural, largely agricultural water users complaining that they were paying too much to support the urban areas of San Diego County.

The county water authority remains locked in a San Diego Superior Court lawsuit that it hopes will stop the Fallbrook and Rainbow districts from leaving — at least without a hefty payment.

Authority officials say the departure of the two agencies will stick remaining member districts with the debt for infrastructure upgrades that have already been financed.

“The San Diego County Water Authority has invested in highly reliable and climate-resilient water supplies to sustain our region’s $300 billion economy, the quality of life for 3 million residents and the readiness of several critical military installations,” the agency said in a Wednesday statement.

The two North County water districts got the go-ahead to join a Riverside County-based water system, which they say would cut rates for their customers.

They said the detachment of the two rural agencies would wrongly cost remaining ratepayers across the county some $140 million over the coming decade.

“The water authority will remain focused on protecting San Diego County ratepayers as the two North County agencies seek to address numerous technical, legal, financial and administrative issues that remain in their detachment process,” the statement said.

The detachment was approved on a split vote of the county Local Agency Formation Commission this past summer. The commission is responsible for boundary-setting among municipal agencies across the county.

The lawsuit filed by the water authority against the commission, the Fallbrook and Rainbow districts and the Eastern Municipal agency remains pending in Superior Court.

Records show the next hearing is scheduled for early next year.

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