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Water in Orange County Needs “One Voice” <br /> <br /> <br />2021-2022 Orange County Grand Jury Page 15 <br /> <br />providers occupy “seats at the table” would be beneficial to Orange County as a whole and for <br />MET. Additional benefits of a one wholesale water entity include: <br />• Increased coordination of financial support and capital resources from local, State, and <br />federal sources. An example is in the funding for well contamination remediation <br />utilizing an ionization process. <br />• More influence at the local, State, and federal levels. Examples include the Delta <br />Conveyance17F <br />18 system, additional storage capacity, and preservation of imported supplies <br />from the State Water Project. <br />• Increased collaboration leading to additional infrastructure shared by wholesale and <br />retail, both for emergency and longer-term everyday use, to move water around as <br />needed. <br />• Centralized planning for emergency water supply interruptions rather than independent <br />efforts of wholesale and retail water organizations. <br />• Increased coordination between North and South County for matters such as water <br />banking in Central County for use in South County. <br />• Cost savings by eliminating duplication of administrative, professional, consultant, <br />lobbying and other expenses currently existing at OCWD and MWDOC. <br />• Singular County leadership in forming conservation strategies, public outreach, and <br />education. <br /> <br />Concerns related to creating “One Voice” <br />The Orange County Grand Jury recognizes that with any governance or business model change <br />obstacles will exist to forming a consolidated or new wholesale water agency. Overall, <br />proponents of this change are concerned that there is a lack of political will and that “protecting <br />my own turf” philosophies will get in the way of doing the right thing for reliable water supply in <br />the future. Some additional hesitation exists from some Orange County water board and <br />management professionals that believe: <br />• Imported versus groundwater requires specialized knowledge and a unique operational <br />approach and should not be combined. <br />• Staff reductions will occur. <br />• Merging of retirement pension and benefit liabilities will be complicated and expensive. <br />• Development of a new Board of Directors structure may cause a loss of representation of <br />the unique water needs of different parts of the County. <br /> <br />18 www.mwdoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Delta-Conveyance-Project-and-EcoRestore.pdf