South San Joaquin Irrigation District has received the 2021 District Transparency Certificate of Excellence awarded by the Special District Leadership Foundation in recognition of its outstanding efforts to promote transparency and good governance.
“This award is a testament to the district’s commitment to transparency and accountability with our customers and communities,” said, Peter Rietkerk, General Manager. “We understand that we were founded to serve and support our local agricultural, urban, and business communities, and our team works hard to openly engage and inform the public of our operations.”
To receive this award, SSJID demonstrated the completion of essential governance transparency requirements, including conducting ethics training for all board members, properly conducting open and public meetings; maintaining transparent and objective board policies, providing information via its website, and filing financial transactions and compensation reports to the State Controller in a timely manner.
Special District Leadership Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization formed to promote good governance and best practices among California’s special districts through certification, accreditation, and other recognition programs.
Special districts are independent public agencies that deliver core local services to communities, such as water, wastewater treatment, fire protection, parks and recreation, healthcare, sanitation, mosquito abatement, ports, libraries, public cemeteries and more. Districts are established by voters and their funding is approved by voters to meet specific needs through focused service. They can be specially molded to serve large regions or small neighborhoods depending on the need.
South San Joaquin Irrigation District was established in 1909 and is headquartered in Manteca, CA. SSJID provides agricultural irrigation water to about 56,000 acres surrounding Escalon, Ripon and Manteca, and wholesale drinking water to over 193,000 residents in Manteca, Lathrop, Tracy, and in the future, Escalon.
SSJID, along with Oakdale Irrigation District, owns and operates the Tri-Dam Project, a series of storage reservoirs and electric generation facilities that produce zero-carbon hydropower in the Stanislaus River watershed
