San Diego utility customers will see another upcharge on their water bills starting May 1 after a 5.5% rate adjustment was approved by the San Diego City Council last week.
The city of San Diego said the rate hike passed last Tuesday was a pass-through charge necessary to cover a 14% increase approved by the San Diego County Water Authority in July 2024.
The sprawling estuary about 70 miles inland from San Francisco feels distinctly out of place — more like the swampy Florida Everglades than arid California. But from that confluence of two great rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, 1,100 miles of webbed waterways and levees send upward of six million acre-feet of freshwater a year to thirstier parts of the state, from farms in the San Joaquin Valley to the Southern California megalopolis. Known as the California Delta, the estuary is among the state’s most important sources of water — and most consistent flash points over environmental protection.
State lawmakers are proposing new limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in tap water as questions emerge about the Trump administration’s stance on regulating the chemicals. Democratic lawmakers in at least five states have introduced bills to set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFAS in drinking water.
Millions of Californians are set to see significant water rate hikes over the next few years, with prices for essential water supplies jumping by double-digit percentage points. In one large city, cumulative increases could see prices jump about 70% just in the next five years.
More late season rainfall is headed toward San Diego this week, starting with some drizzle before another atmospheric river is expected to bring several days of wet, overcast conditions into the weekend. The first bout of precipitation is anticipated to begin Tuesday into Wednesday as a ribbon of low atmospheric pressure currently over the Pacific Northwest advances towards the region.
Water rates in San Diego are set to rise, and many residents and business owners are voicing their frustrations. On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted 6-3 to approve a 5.5% water rate increase, with additional hikes expected in the coming years.
Rain has officially entered the region once again. Coastal communities are not expecting to receive more than an inch of rain through Friday, which might not sound like a lot, but it is when it comes to water conservation.
Both U.S. senators from Arizona joined those from California and Nevada in a plea to end a federal freeze of $4 billion in water management and conservation for the Colorado River Basin and other Western areas in drought.
San Diego water customers are facing a 5.5% rate hike on May 1 that’s expected to be the first of several large increases during the next few years that could cumulatively raise rates by 70%.
The first in a series of Pacific storms moved into San Diego County on Wednesday and began spreading much-needed rain, before a second wave was expected to follow Thursday night into Friday morning.
