Reacting to the City Council’s recent approval of his amendment to spread out an approximately 19% increase in water rates Citywide over a longer period, District 1 Councilmember Joe LaCava (above) said it was necessary to soften the financial blow.

The City Council voted 5-3 to increase water rates by 5% beginning Dec. 1, 2023, then increase another 5.2% effective July 1, 2024, for a total one-year increase of 10.2%. Another increase of 8.7% overall will take effect the following year on Jan. 1, 2025.

The City Council says increases are needed over the next two years to improve customer service technology, repair aging infrastructure, and continue to provide safe, reliable water to residents. The increases also cover the rising cost of purchasing imported water for calendar years 2023 through 2025.

“My changes to the proposed water rates immediately balance the need to protect pocketbooks while repairing our aging infrastructure by slowing down the December increase from 10.2% to 5%,” said LaCava. “Rising costs impact all San Diegans, making any increase a difficult decision. My amendment takes a thoughtful approach to adjusting to these changes while meeting the needs of fixing our dams and reducing pipe failures. Additionally, this action signaled to the San Diego County Water Authority that this City Council will protect the public’s interests and all future (rate increase) requests must be justified on the highest levels.

“We really rely on imported water,” added LaCava, pointing out only about 10% of San Diego’s water needs come from local dams and reservoirs. “And that 10% includes what the water authority charges us for that imported water,” he said. “And those charges have been going up, as well as the cost of building projects that increase our reliability and lessen our dependence on imported water from Northern California.”

LaCava noted the rising cost of operating water pumps and water mains has necessitated increasing the water rates, which the councilmember characterized as “just a pass through to our (City) customers.”

Juan Guerreiro, director of the City’s Public Utilities Department, concurred with LaCava’s assessment of the current water situation. “The City currently purchases 85% to 90% of all its drinking water, and we work diligently to find ways to keep costs down for our customers,” he said. “This necessary increase will allow us to continue our investments in replacing and rehabilitating our pipelines and maintain reliable water service for the residents of San Diego.”

A cost-of-service study conducted last year found that if the City’s water rates remained unchanged, there wouldn’t be enough revenue to provide necessary water services for the next two years. The recent rate increase approved is also attributed to a rate hike from the San Diego County Water Authority, the region’s water wholesaler, which buys and imports the water we need for the region.

With the City Council’s approval, water rates will now increase 5% overall beginning Dec. 1, 2023, then increase another 5.2% effective July 1, 2024, for a total one-year increase of 10.2%. Another increase of 8.7% overall will take effect the following year on Jan. 1, 2025.

Operations and project needs are analyzed annually, and the increase in 2025 may be lower than the predicted figure. Historically, the City has implemented lower-than-projected increases because the operational needs do not reach the cost assumptions in the cost-of-service study due to process changes and/or efficiencies.

LaCava said the three pieces to the region’s water “puzzle” are: the cost of buying imported water; funding daily maintenance of the City’s complex water system including pump stations and reservoirs; and replacing aging water infrastructure such as pipelines. He said the council’s decision came down to, “If we didn’t do those water-rate increases, what would be our options?” He added, “You could buy less imported water. But then you’d be asking San Diegans to conserve more, which is not acceptable to me. San Diegans have already done a great job in conserving and redirecting their use of water.”

LaCava described going all in on investing in wholesale replacement of water infrastructure as a “gamble. Let’s just slow down the pace of replacing pipelines and aging pump stations,” he said adding, “When a pump station or pipeline fails, it arguably costs twice as much to fix. We need to replace our water pipelines in a thoughtful, cost-effective manner.”