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Water Rate Increase Scheduled for Initial City Council Review Next
Monrovia Weekly Nov 02, 2017
–Courtesy photo
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–Courtesy photo
The anticipated associated costs that will be impacting Monrovians in the coming months and years will be discussed at the next council meeting. Monrovia will be seeking the City Council’s authorization to begin the Proposition 218 Protest Hearing process on Nov. 7, 2017, to adjust Monrovia’s current water rate to absorb the enormous added costs being passed down to water agencies in our region.
The majority of customers in Monrovia are single family residences with a 1-inch water meter or smaller. Based on preliminary rate modeling, updated rates will likely recommend a water cost structure where residential customers see an increase of around $17 / month on their monthly bill beginning in 2018. In addition, at build out in FY 2021/22, the new cost for water is expected to increase by around $37 / month more than what the typical residential customer pays today. Also, it is important to emphasize that all of these new costs are pass-through costs which will be paid to the San Gabriel Basin Watermaster and the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District for the purpose of importing water into our region.
Ultimately, the proposed water rate adjustment is being coordinated because of new water supply costs that the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster (Watermaster) and the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District (Upper District) are levying to address the water supply shortage in the Main San Gabriel Basin. As you may know, the decade-long drought that we have experienced in our region has had a devastating impact on the groundwater levels in Main San Gabriel Basin aquifer, where Monrovia and many other water agencies draw their groundwater from.
Last May, the Watermaster (which is the agency that regulates who gets to draw water from the Main San Gabriel Basin aquifer and how much they can pump) instituted a new fee on all water producers in the San Gabriel Valley, including the City of Monrovia. This new fee was implemented so that they could make a large purchase of water – 40.7 billion gallons at a cost of over $100 million. This purchase was made after careful consideration and an examination of all available options to restore the health of the Basin after it reached historically low levels.
A video explaining the drought related issues that have driven the need for this particular rate increase can be found online at the City’s dedicated water conservation website.
As the video outlines, the cost of purchasing and importing this water will be split between all of the communities and agencies that use this water, including here in Monrovia, which means that water will become more expensive for all of us in the San Gabriel Valley moving forward. However, the importation of water will also ensure that when Monrovians turn the faucet on, we’ll still have running water available.
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