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The San Diego County Water Authority staff has proposed increasing rates charged to member agencies by 6.4 percent for untreated water and 5.9 percent for treated water in calendar year 2017, similar to the increases adopted by the Board of Directors for 2016.

Next year’s rate proposal is primarily driven by higher costs from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In addition, it incorporates higher costs for drought-proof water supplies from the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant.

Los Angeles-based members of Congress today applauded a House committee’s inclusion of a Los Angeles River restoration project in an annual water infrastructure funding bill.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee opted to include the Los Angeles River Ecosystem project — which would restore natural habitats to the portions of the 51-mile river — into the Water Resources and Development Act of 2016.

The San Diego County Water Authority‘s staff is scheduled Thursday to propose increasing rates paid by its 24 member agencies next year.

The proposed hikes are 6.4 percent for untreated water and 5.9 percent for treated water in calendar year 2017, similar to the hikes adopted by the Board of Directors for this year. The agency receives water from a variety of sources, including the wholesaler Metropolitan Water District, and distributes it to local districts and cities that, in turn, supply customers. Agency staff cited rate increases by MWD, conservation efforts that have lowered revenue and the higher cost of desalinated water.

Customers in San Diego County cut back on water consumption by 23 percent in April, compared to the same month three years ago, marking the largest monthly reduction since September, the San Diego County Water Authority reported Monday.

The state-mandated target for the county as a whole is to reduce consumption by 13 percent compared to the corresponding month in 2013. The goal was lowered recently from 20 percent after the region was given credit for bringing a desalination plant in Carlsbad online.

A spring storm dropped rain in parts of Northern California on Saturday afternoon, but it was less severe than the one a day earlier that dumped up to 13 inches of snow on a Sierra Nevada highway and hit the Sacramento area lightning, winds gusting to 40 mph and dime-sized hail.

Some arriving flights at San Francisco International Airport were delayed for up to 90 minutes on Friday. Meanwhile, traffic was snarled on Interstate 80 in the northern Sierra Nevada for hours as crews plowed as much as a foot of snow and dealt with dozens of spinouts and minor crashes.