Water Quality Assn. v. City of Escondido

The City of Escondido (the City) enacted an ordinance which established a water reclamation plan and, pursuant to that objective, prohibited the use of a certain type of water softening appliance, the self-regenerating or automatic water softener, within a particular water service area. (City of Escondido Ord. No. 91-3, § 6.5 (the ordinance).) The City maintained this ordinance was an exercise of its municipal police power to enact sanitation measures, particularly to prevent excessive deposits of salt in the reclaimed water supply.

Plaintiffs Water Quality Association (WQA), a trade association of the point-of-use water quality improvement industry, and Coastal Cities Water Treatment, Inc. (Coastal), a water softening business (sometimes referred to as respondents), sued the City on a number of theories, seeking to invalidate the ordinance. The trial court ruled in favor of WQA and Coastal on a preemption cause of action, based on Health and Safety Code section 116775 et seq., and issued declaratory and injunctive relief against the enforcement of the ordinance. The City, joined by intervener San Diego County Water Authority (the Water Authority) (author of a model…