waterwell Three cities in the Greater Long Beach area—Downey, Signal Hill and Cerritos—have filed suit against the Water Replenishment District (WRD), claiming gross violations of its constitutional and regulatory mandates that have manifested in its “unfair and inequitable” handling of issues.

The WRD is an agency created by law to manage the water used by residents and residents in several cities that share the same water table. The agency pays for this by charging the cities it serves with replenishment assessments (RA) based on every acre-foot of water—that is, the amount of water it would take to cover one acre, one-foot deep.

The suit alleges that RAs keep rising higher without sufficient reason.

In Downey, according to its deputy city manger Desi Alvarez, the WRD just raised the RA to $205 per acre-foot—from $181.85 per acre-foot last fiscal year higher.

“Over these last few years we have noted these increases with alarm and taken issue with WRD, but our complaints were always ignored,” said Alvarez. “Its latest RA increase was the straw that broke the camel’s back, especially because of today’s bleak economic climate. Our water bill is one of the city’s biggest expenses.”

In the suit, the three cities contend that WRD: 1) has been taxing the cities illegally; 2) the increasing RAs are caused mainly by WRD’s manipulation of rates; 3) the reserve fund of some $50 million maintained by WRD is far above the $10 million fund limit set by WRD’s own charter, increasing chances of misuse of funds; and 4) WRD spends its funds for purposes other than those originally and properly intended.

CONTINUE READING HENRY VENERACION’S STORY ON THEDOWNEYPATRIOT.COM