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Water Authority Recommends $1.7 Billion Two-Year Budget

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San Diego – The San Diego County Water Authority’s Acting General Manager today recommended to the Board of Directors a $1.7 billion budget for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, up 5 percent from the current two-year budget, due largely to increasing costs for water supply, supply reliability and infrastructure improvements.

Water Authority staff also proposed increasing rates and charges for member agencies by 4.3 percent for treated water and 4.8 percent for untreated water in calendar year 2020, attributable to rate increases by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, continued investments in supply reliability, and reduced water sales that lower demand and mean fixed costs must be spread over fewer gallons.

 

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Sweetwater Authority Wins Statewide Award For 2018 ‘Securing Our Water Future’ Communications and Outreach Campaign

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Chula Vista, Calif. – On Wednesday, April 24, the Sweetwater Authority (Authority) Governing Board was presented with the California Associataion of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) EPIC Award for excellence in public relations and communications. The Authority received the award earlier this month at the CAPIO Annual Conference for its strategic and comprehensive outreach campaign surrounding the 2018 five-year rate study titled “Security Our Water Future.”

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San Jose Water Bills Could Go Up, Despite Years Of Conservation Efforts

/in , /by /Fox KTVU (San Jose)by Kristin J. Bender

When California’s historic drought mandated that residents take shorter showers, cut back on watering their lawns and give up washing their cars, folks in San Jose did their part to save water. At the start of the drought in 2014, then Gov. Jerry Brown set down a 20 percent reduction target (from 2013 levels) for urban water suppliers. San Jose Water Company hit the mark every year from 2015 to 2018. Further, the water company put in place a “critical water reduction plan” in order to meet a 30 percent water-use reduction goal set by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and residents nearly achieved that goal during 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

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Here’s How Much The Pure Water Project Could Raise Your Water Bill

/in , /by /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard Quoted:

San Diego water customers will soon pay $6 to $13 more a month to fund the first part of the city’s new recycled water project, according to a newly released estimate. The city is working on a multibillion-dollar plan to purify enough sewage to provide a third of the city’s drinking water by 2035. Most of Southern California’s water now comes from either the rivers of Northern California or the Colorado River, which are not only hundreds of miles away but prone to drought. The city’s wastewater recycling project, known as Pure Water, is meant to provide more reliable water. Of course, that will come at a cost.

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OPINION: Higginson: The ‘Why’ Of Water Rates

/in , /by /Poway News Chieftainby Don Higginson

In 1959 we had just moved to San Diego from Taipei (Taiwan) where my dad had been stationed in the Navy. Out for a Sunday drive (something one actually did back then for family entertainment) we approached the old bridge spanning Lake Hodges. That Sunday drive remains a vivid memory sketched in my mind as my three young sisters busted out laughing when we read a sign on the bridge that simply read, “No fishing from the bridge.” Quite amusing to us as the lake was bone dry, without any water in sight.

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Millions Of Californians’ Water Bills Could Climb After Trump’s FEMA Won’t Pay $300M For Oroville Dam

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

Millions of Californians could end up with higher water bills after the Trump administration on Friday announced that federal emergency officials aren’t going to reimburse the state for $306 million in repairs to Oroville Dam stemming from the 2017 spillway crisis. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said federal taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for problems that existed prior to a massive hole forming in the dam’s concrete spillway in February 2017, eventually prompting the two-day evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents and a $1.1 billion emergency response and repair job.

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Poway City Council Approves Water, Sewer Service Rate Increases

/in , /by /NBC 7 San Diegoby Melissa Adan

Daytime protests weren’t enough to stop the Poway City Council from approving a set of rate hikes on water and sewer services in the city. The proposal, which passed unanimously, calls for a 4.5-percent increase on the water commodity use rate, a 7.5-percent hike on the fixed water meter charge, and 3.25 percent increases on the sewer commodity rate and the sewer service charge. “What goes up never comes down in terms of taxes, or water,” Poway resident Jason Chynn said. “They just go up, up, up, and never come back down.”

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Hearing Tuesday On Water, Sewer Rates

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Steve Dreyer

Proposed increases in city water and sewer rates will be the subject of a City Council public hearing on Tuesday night. City staff is recommending the water commodity (use) rate increase by 4.5 percent and the fixed water meter charge be increased by 7.5 percent. The staff report also recommends a 3.35 percent increase in the sewer commodity rate and a 3.25 percent hike in the sewer service charge. However, the temporary Drought Recovery Surcharge, in effect since January 2016, expired Dec. 30, meaning customers began receiving a 75-cent-per-unit break on their bills last month. A unit is 748 gallons. Assuming a single-family household uses 25 units of water the bi-monthly bill has included a $16.50 surcharge.

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Water Rate Increase Planned For This Year

/in , /by /Santa Monica Daily Pressby Madeleine Pauker

Water rates will go up nine percent in 2019 as the City of Santa Monica embarks on several projects to wean itself off of imported water. City Council is expected to approve the rate hike at its Tuesday meeting. The average single-family home customer will pay about $4.33 more per month for water to fund the design of a larger, more efficient water treatment plant, the purchase of a new well and the cost of replacing the city’s aging water mains, said chief sustainability officer Dean Kubani. The rate increase will go into effect retroactively on Jan. 1.

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Report Calls For Poway Water, Sewer Rate Hikes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Steve Dreyer

A recommendation that water and sewer rates be increased starting in March will be discussed at a special City Council meeting next Tuesday night. City staff is recommending the water commodity (use) rate increase by 4.5 percent and the fixed water meter charge be increased by 7.5 percent. The staff report also recommends at 3.35 percent increase in the sewer commodity rate and a 3.25 percent hike in the sewer service charge.

 

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