Western enters into agreement to enhance regional water quality and supply

Western Municipal Water District (Western) recently announced the approval of an agreement that will provide a connection to imported water for the Rubidoux Community Services District (Rubidoux) in partnership with four other regional water agencies.

The historic agreement between the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District (Valley District), West Valley Water District (West Valley), Rubidoux, and Western will provide up to 2,000 acre-feet per year of imported water from the State Water Project to Rubidoux.

The agreement will not only provide Rubidoux with new access to imported water for an agency otherwise entirely dependent on local groundwater supplies, but it will also help Rubidoux address the need to reduce total dissolved solids (TDS) that are discharged to the City of Riverside’s wastewater treatment plant – all at a fraction of the cost.

Noting the monumental effort to bring the agreement to fruition, Western’s General Manager Craig Miller said, “Developing a complex water purchase and delivery agreement that involves five different regional water agencies was no small task and really required each one of us to think about how to provide water service in a new way for the benefit of our community. We are proud of this regional collaboration that improves Rubidoux’s access to diverse sources of high-quality water at a reasonable cost.”

As part of the approved agreement, Western will purchase the water from MWD to be delivered through Valley District’s connection to West Valley for Rubidoux’s use in Western’s service area. Rubidoux will fully reimburse Western for all water purchases from MWD and Western’s administrative costs for providing the service.