San Diego

San Diego County Water Authority Rate Hike Proposed

The San Diego County Water Authority said Thursday it's proposing an increase in 2016 rates to member agencies

The agency that supplies most of the water to San Diego County announced Thursday it plans to increase rates to its member districts.

The San Diego County Water Authority said Thursday it will propose a plan to increase 2016 rates by 6.6 percent or $72 per acre-foot more for untreated water and 5.4 percent or $74 per acre-foot more for treated water in calendar year 2016.

The decision is in response to cuts announced by the Metropolitan Water District, which sells imported water to agencies serving millions of Californians. The MWD announced earlier this year it will reduce regional deliveries by 15 percent effective July 1.

The board of directors will be presented with the proposal on May 28 and a public hearing on the changes will be held June 25.

The SDCWA, a wholesale supplier of water to 24 local water agencies, gets the majority of its water from the MWD.

Officials said each member district will then decide how its own retail rates will reflect the increase when it charges customers.

An acre-foot is about 356,000 gallons or roughly the amount of water needed to serve two households for a year.

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