Rate hikes and water restrictions are coming to more Bay Area counties as California continues to battle a drought.
Sonoma County supervisors have declared a countywide emergency with reservoirs at their lowest level in history, meaning residents could be subject to mandatory water restrictions as soon as next week.
For now, county officials are asking residents to 'practice' using 20-25% less water than they otherwise would.
This comes one week after Gov. Newsom issued an emergency in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
East Bay Municipal Utility District has also officially declared a stage one drought and is asking its 1.4 million customers to voluntarily cut their water use by 10%. EBMUD provides water to Alameda County and Contra Costa County.
And the Santa Clara Valley Water district is on track to raise water rates by July.
After three different public hearings, the district board voted Tuesday to move ahead with plans to raise water rates to deal with the drought.
The utility will need to buy what’s known as supplemental water.
“I’ve actually started referring to it as emergency purchase of water. I think that’s a much more accurate description,” said district CEO Rick Callender. “This is extraordinary water; this is not water that we would normally be purchasing if we weren’t in the situation that we’re in.”
The district will hold another meeting Wednesday to discuss the purchase further but they are headed towards approving a more than 9% rate hike on May 11.
“The water charge projection is driven by drought preparation, water supply reliability investments and infrastructure repair and replacement investments. It’s important that that message get across to the public,” said Darin Taylor, district CFO.
The district avoided raising rates last year and officials say no one wants to raise them during the pandemic, but now the need is just too great.
“We are not only fighting with the drought, but we are fighting Anderson being completely empty,” said Callender.
The Anderson Reservoir was drained for an earthquake retrofit project.
The Marin Municipal Water District voted to impose water restrictions on its residents last week, becoming the first Bay Area water district to do so.
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