The reorganization in which the Rainbow Municipal Water District detached from the San Diego County Water Authority and annexed to the Eastern Municipal Water District as a retail agency is now complete. Eastern has adjusted its division boundaries to add Rainbow to Division 2 for EMWD election purposes.
With Jeff Armstrong absent, the 4-0 EMWD board vote Nov. 20 adopts a resolution adding Rainbow to Division 2. The board also authorized EMWD general manager Joe Mouawad or his designee to execute a billing and service agreement between Rainbow and Eastern for Eastern to be Rainbow’s wholesale water provider. EMWD staff was also authorized to continue the redistricting process to rebalance the populations of the five EMWD divisions, reflecting the addition of the Fallbrook Public Utility District into the EMWD service area.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California began delivering water to San Diego County in 1947. MWD’s San Diego Aqueduct conveys water to a delivery point six miles south of the Riverside County line, which allowed MWD and the San Diego County Water Authority to provide equal contributions for the connection between MWD’s Colorado River Aqueduct and the San Vicente Reservoir in Lakeside. The SDCWA northern boundary was the county line. All but one of FPUD’s connections are from MWD pipelines rather than from CWA pipelines, and four of Rainbow’s eight connections are to the MWD portion of the pipeline. FPUD and Rainbow sought to reduce their cost of purchasing water – and thus their rates – by detaching from the CWA and joining Eastern.
The Western Municipal Water District is also a member of MWD and provides retail water sales of MWD supply to the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and to the Rancho California Water District. The status of FPUD and Rainbow is thus similar to that of the two water districts that obtain MWD water from Western. In July 2023 San Diego County’s Local Agency Formation Commission approved a reorganization for FPUD and Rainbow to detach from the CWA and join the Eastern contingent upon approval by the FPUD and Rainbow voters. The voters of both districts overwhelmingly approved the reorganization in November 2023.
After the LAFCO decision, the CWA filed a lawsuit against LAFCO, FPUD, and Rainbow. The four agencies agreed to a settlement in December 2023. FPUD’s detachment from the CWA and annexation to Eastern became effective January 1, 2024. The Rainbow detachment required the completion of pump stations to allow all Rainbow water to be taken from turnouts north of the MWD/CWA boundary. The Rainbow reorganization took effect Nov. 1, 2024.
Although Riverside County’s LAFCO had delegated the reorganization process to San Diego County’s LAFCO, both LAFCO agencies filed certificates of completion with their respective county recorder’s office. The certificates of completion for the FPUD reorganization were recorded in December 2023. The San Diego LAFCO certificate of completion for Rainbow was recorded November 5 and the Riverside County LAFCO certificate of completion was recorded November 7.
The water billing and service agreement between Eastern and FPUD for Eastern to be FPUD’s wholesale water provider was approved by the EMWD board January 3 and by the FPUD board at a January 4 special meeting. Rainbow’s board held a special meeting November 19 to approve the billing and service agreement between Rainbow and Eastern.
Other than the receiving agency and the specific MWD turnouts the EMWD billing and service agreements are identical for FPUD and Rainbow. Six MWD pipelines carry water along the San Diego Aqueduct from the Robert A. Skinner Water Treatment Plant in Temecula. Pipelines 1, 2, and 4 convey treated water while Pipelines 3, 5, and 6 deliver untreated supply. (Pipeline 6 currently carries untreated water for seven miles from Lake Skinner to Anza Road and De Portola Road; the southern portion which would serve San Diego County is not expected to be needed in the near future so that part of the project has been deferred.) Eastern will provide both FPUD and Rainbow with treated potable water from Pipeline 1 and Pipeline 4. The Rainbow turnouts which will be used are identified by MWD as SD-09, SD-05, SD‑10, and RB-1.
Eastern will receive water delivery orders from Rainbow and will communicate that demand to MWD. The cost of the water will be based on MWD and EMWD rates including Rainbow’s pro-rata share of MWD’s Readiness to Serve Charge and Capacity Charge. Eastern will also add an administrative overhead fee, which is currently $11 per acre-foot. Eastern will not guarantee the reliability of MWD supply nor will Eastern guarantee water quality standards.
Eastern will take over administration of MWD programs for Rainbow which had been administered from the CWA. That includes MWD’s Local Resources Program which provides financial incentives for the development of local supplies which increase supply reliability and reduce imported water demands. Rainbow will also be eligible for other EMWD programs.
As a retail agency of a wholesale agency FPUD and Rainbow residents will be eligible to vote both for their FPUD or Rainbow division board seat and for their EMWD division seat. Every ten years the EMWD director divisions are adjusted to account for population changes recorded in the decennial census. The maximum allowable variance from the highest-populated to the lowest-populated trustee area is 10 percent. Local agencies are allowed to revise their trustee area boundaries, contingent upon the areas having approximately equal population and the boundaries not being drawn to disenfranchise any specific group, as the district feels is warranted so the boundaries may change earlier if growth in an area creates an unequal population – or if a populated area is annexed to the district.
The 2020 census had a total EMWD population of 870,579 consisting of 178,018 in Division 1 which includes French Valley and Winchester, 165,186 in Division 2 which is the Temecula portion of the district, 182,661 in Division 3 covering Hemet and San Jacinto, 177,198 in Division 4 which has Menifee and Perris, and 167,156 in Division 5 which is Moreno Valley. The total population of 870,579 equates to a target population of 174,116 in each division. When the revised maps were created EMWD staff also anticipated growth throughout the decade, and divisions which are expected to grow faster relative to the total growth in the district were allocated slightly lower populations in an attempt to keep the division populations balanced through 2030. The boundary map adopted had 167,364 people in Division 1, 176,879 residents of Division 2, 182,712 Division 3 community members, 166,790 Division 4 residents, and 176,834 people in Division 5. The new boundaries, which became effective for the November 2022 elections, were approved during a February 2022 EMWD board meeting. Divisions 1, 2, and 5 had elections in November 2022. The first elections for Divisions 3 and 4 under the new boundaries were in November 2024.
FPUD and Rainbow are adjacent to Division 2. A February 21 EMWD board vote placed the FPUD area into Division 2 for EMWD election purposes. EMWD staff was also authorized to initiate the redistricting process to rebalance the populations of the five EMWD divisions, although that redistricting was deferred until after the annexation of the Rainbow Municipal Water District to Eastern was complete so that the boundaries would not need to be adjusted twice. Division 2 is currently represented by Stephen Corona, and since that seat is not subject to election until November 2026 the redistricting did not need to occur until after Rainbow joined Eastern.
FPUD had a population of 34,738 when the 2020 census was conducted. Rainbow’s current estimated population is approximately 24,000. Without redistricting the variance between Division 2 and the lowest-populated division would be approximately 37 percent.
The California Elections Code prevents any change in division boundaries within 180 days prior to the election of any director although Rainbow staff expects the redistricting to be complete by June 2025. A January 2025 public workshop will discuss the process and solicit feedback. Draft maps will be prepared, and a public hearing targeted for February or March will review the draft maps and solicit feedback. The comments will be incorporated into a proposed final map which would be adopted at a public hearing targeted for spring 2025.
Joe Naiman can be reached at jnaiman@reedermedia.com.
