The San Diego region surged ahead in Fiscal Year 2018 with strong economic numbers to accompany our unrivaled quality of life. Jobs expanded. Tourism thrived. The housing market flourished. Construction activity advanced. And venture capital investments continued to grow. In other words, San Diego did what San Diego does best.

Behind the scenes, the San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies did what we do best, providing the safe and reliable water supplies necessary to sustain 3.3 million people and a $220 billion economy each and every day regardless of weather conditions or other challenges.

For the Water Authority, the year included numerous achievements:

• Securing transfers of conserved water from the Imperial Irrigation District through 2047
• Completing substantial upgrades to our large-scale water delivery system
• Adopting some of the lowest water rate increases in 15 years
• Enhancing our cyber-security defenses
• Developing and deploying numerous innovative technologies
• Building momentum for restoration at the Salton Sea
• Helping defeat an ill-conceived statewide water tax

We also benefitted significantly from our successful rate case litigation against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which substantially increased our rights to MWD water and prevented $15 million a year in illegal overcharges by MWD. One result is that the Water Authority’s independent Colorado River supplies are now both less expensive and more reliable than water from MWD, a testament to the value of the historic water conservation-and-transfer deal the Water Authority signed in 2003.

This past year also included the launch of a new outreach and education program called Brought to You by Water – because everything we love about San Diego is the result of a safe and reliable water supply. Even though most people don’t think about it, water is the fundamental resource necessary to fuel vital industries such as tourism, manufacturing, brewing, agriculture, and many others that drive our economy.

What we do at the Water Authority makes possible everything else that happens in this region, and we are both immensely proud of that and committed to securing reliable water supplies for decades to come. Because this San Diego life is Brought to You by Water.