Written by: Amanda Angulo
California has been a state which has always experienced water drought, and unfortunately, that has never meant cheap water. Now, we may begin to see a higher cost for the necessity very soon.
The San Diego County Water Authority, controlling most of the area’s water resources from the Colorado River, has predicted heavy tax hikes, as high as 10%, to begin by 2023. Part of the reason for this is because the agency has to pay off some of its debt. Since they no longer wish to take out loans, they decided to raise the payments for the next decade.
San Diego already pays one of the highest water rates in the country, which could place us at the very top. The city will soon begin to ask their residents to pay for a multi-billion recycling project that transforms wastewater into drinking water, Pure Water, around the same time the actual water tax hikes begin to take effect.
Additionally, on Tuesday, the San Diego City Council considered a 3% increase on water, which happened to be the first water hike in the past two years.
When reflecting on the average of water payments for people living in San Diego in 2017, it was roughly $70. But, within the next year, this will increase to a value of $90 a month.
The city is worried about the increase in rates that are supposed to occur before 2025 because that will be around the same time the Pure Water project will begin to take off loans to build. This will also affect residents and businesses financially.
“We’re looking at two significant drivers of increased costs that will overlap, essentially a double whammy to the City’s water customers,” stated Matt Vespi, the city’s chief financial officer.
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