PUBLIC RECORDS ACT RECORDS REVEAL:
Undisclosed Southern California Water Agencies Spend $50,000 of Ratepayer Money to Fund So-Called “Independent” Economic Study Supported by the Metropolitan Water District.
Records recently obtained from an Orange County water agency under a California Public Records Act request have revealed that an undisclosed number of Southern California public water agencies surreptitiously commissioned the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation to produce what they intended would be viewed by the public as a so-called “independent” economic analysis of the historic 2003 Imperial Irrigation District-San Diego County Water Authority water transfer and All American and Coachella canal lining projects. The purpose of the study was to discredit these projects that are the cornerstones of the historic 2003 California Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement.
The public water agencies spent a reported $50,000 of their water ratepayers’ money to fund the study. This so-called “independent” economic study was supported by the executive management and staff of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, who collaborated on the study and hoped to use it as part of a larger communication campaign to discredit the water agreements and MWD’s largest member agency: the San Diego County Water Authority.
Click here to read a letter from San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Maureen Stapleton to LAEDC President and CEO William “Bill” Allen.
Check back for updates and to read additional public records about this scheme by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and some of its member agencies.
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