REGIONAL GOVERNANCE OF WASTEWATER SYSTEM TO BE STUDIED
3/1/2007

SAN DIEGO, March 1 -   Several cities and water districts in the region may work with the City of San Diego to establish a regional organization to govern the area’s wastewater system.

Within the next 60 days, the Metropolitan Wastewater Joint Powers Authority (Metro JPA), will work with San Diego’s Metro Wastewater Department (MWWD) to develop a plan to study the feasibility of setting up a new, region-wide wastewater organization.

The Metro JPA is a coalition of municipalities and other agencies outside the City of San Diego that use San Diego's wastewater system and pay for approximately 33 percent of its costs. 

General agreement to develop a scope of work over the next 60 days was reached last week when Metro JPA officials met with the City of San Diego’s Natural Resources & Culture (NRC) Committee.

The scope of work is to cover how the feasibility study is to be conducted, what it would cost, and who would pay for it.  Since the Metro JPA’s participating agencies pay for approximately a third of the wastewater system’s operating and maintenance costs, they would expect to pay an appropriate amount of the study’s costs.

The Metro JPA was represented at the Feb. 21 meeting by its Chairman, Henry Abarbanel, a Del Mar City Councilmember; and Coronado Public Services Director Scott Huth, who chairs the JPA’s technical committee.

San Diego Councilmember Donna Frye chairs the NRC Committee.  Other committee members attending were Councilmembers Kevin Faulconer and Ben Hueso.   Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office and the San Diego city attorney’s office also were represented.

Abarbanel called the meeting productive and positive, and said he hopes the mayor’s office will participate along with the Metro JPA and MWWD in creating the scope of work.
The Metro JPA will come back to Frye’s NRC committee at its April meeting to report on the conclusions reached along with San Diego MWWD staff on how to proceed with the joint governance study.