San Diego water rates will go up by 5.2%. This increase, approved by the City Council last September, includes a 1.8% charge from the San Diego County Water Authority to cover higher costs of imported water and other services.
The rate hike will help fund essential upgrades to the city’s water infrastructure, such as replacing old pipelines and supporting projects like Pure Water San Diego, which aims to ensure a reliable water supply.
It’s about to heat up in San Diego County, with hot temperatures expected to linger for a bit.
The National Weather Service said a slight cooldown is anticipated for Monday, though short-lived as a warming trend sets in for the week of the Fourth of July holiday. The heat will be most felt away from the coast as high pressure moves into the region.
After hours of debate, San Diego’s water importer (because the region has to buy most of its water from outside the county) decided to raise rates just a smidgen – and put off the doom-iest part of its proposed water price spike until next month.
Why? Well, a lot of local water district representatives (there are 33) weren’t comfortable with how the city of San Diego (the region’s biggest and most powerful water buyer) wanted to try and stave off bigger rate increases. And the city, which has the power to ram through anything it wants, hit the pause button instead.
In times of crises, water utilities stand together to support public safety and reliable service. This was the case recently when the City of Calgary’s water infrastructure suffered a critical blow. On June 5, the City of Calgary issued a notice to the public about a 78-inch feeder main break after reports of massive streams of water spewing out of the ground. The city quickly enacted water restrictions to conserve water. Further evaluation showed that the break was more complex than initially thought, prompting a state of local emergency.
Local water bills might not be going up quite as sharply next year as expected.
The County Water Authority’s board tentatively shrank a proposed rate hike for wholesale water from 18 percent to 14 percent on Thursday — despite concerns the move could hurt the water authority’s credit rating. An increase in wholesale rates will force nearly every local water agency to pass on the extra costs to its customers, but just how much gets passed on could vary widely.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors on Thursday approved an
increase of approximately 4% in wholesale rates for 2025. But that might not be all. The panel plans to assess the need for additional increases after a public hearing in July, according to an agency news release. The approved increase was designed to cover pass-through costs from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that start accruing on July 1.
After hours of debate, San Diego’s water importer (because the region has to buy most of its water from outside the county) decided to raise rates just a smidgen – and put off the doom-iest part of its proposed water price spike until next month.
Why? Well, a lot of local water district representatives (there are 33) weren’t comfortable with how the city of San Diego (the region’s biggest and most powerful water buyer) wanted to try and stave off bigger rate increases. And the city, which has the power to ram through anything it wants, hit the pause button instead.
Most San Diegans don’t often think about the journey water takes before reaching our faucets. It involves hundreds of miles of pipes, multiple treatment plants and countless moving parts to deliver a reliable water supply to our region, which has nowhere near enough natural water sources to sustain us.
Any disruption along the way could have serious implications for local families and businesses. As a result, regular maintenance isn’t just a good idea, it’s an absolute necessity.
Most San Diegans don’t often think about the journey that water takes before reaching our faucets. It involves hundreds of miles of pipes, multiple treatment plants and countless moving parts to deliver a reliable water supply to our region, which has nowhere near enough natural water sources to sustain us.
Any disruption along the way could have serious implications for local families and businesses. As a result, regular maintenance isn’t just a good idea, it’s an absolute necessity.
Thursday is doomsday for water prices in San Diego.
That’s when the region’s water importer – the San Diego County Water Authority – debates whether to boost its prices a whopping 18 percent come Jan. 1. The price increase is massive compared to previous rate increases, and the Water Authority’s biggest customer, the city of San Diego, is pretty ticked off. For the last five years, water rates rose between 5 and 10 percent per year. The last time San Diego passed a higher price spike was 2010 at 20 percent.
