OREANDA-NEWS. S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'AAA' long-term rating to Irvine Ranch Water District, Calif.'s series 2016 bonds. At the same time, we affirmed our 'AAA' long-term rating on the district's parity obligations and our 'A-1+' short-term rating on the district's series 2011A-1 and 2011A-2 bonds. The outlook is stable.

"The rating reflects, in our opinion, the combination of an extremely strong enterprise risk profile and an extremely strong financial risk profile," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Tim Tung.

The enterprise risk profile reflects our view of the district's:

Service area participation in the broad and diverse Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area economy, Very low industry risk as a monopolistic service provider of an essential public utility, Affordable service rates in the context of the service area's very strong income levels, andStrong operational management practices and policies. The financial risk profile reflects our view of the district's:

Extremely strong all-in coverage metrics that we anticipate will be sustained going forward; Extremely strong liquidity position, with cash on hand at the end of fiscal year 2015 equivalent to more than 700 days of operating expenses;Manageable capital improvement program (CIP) that utilizes a mix of additional leverage and pay-as-you-go funding sources; and Strong financial management practices and policies. The series 2016 bonds are being issued to finance a portion of the district's CIP, including to reimburse the district for certain prior capital expenditures.