SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – About a half-million water customers in the East Bay will pay drought surcharges beginning next month.
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The Contra Costa Water District Board of Directors on Wednesday adopted a 15% surcharge following a public hearing. It will take effect on July 1.
Treated water customers would pay $0.79 per 748 gallons, while the average customer using 260 gallons per day would pay about $0.28 per day, or $8.68 for the month of July.
The board announced in April it would seek to reduce water usage within the district by 15% from 2020 levels, asking customers to reduce their own usage by at least the same percentage, reduce outdoor water use and report water waste to officials.
Ernesto Avila, the board's president, said Thursday that the surcharge is necessary to maintain 24/7 water service as California's drought enters its third year.
"Our customers are known for responding to calls for conservation and we are confident that this year we will see the same," Avila said in a release. "The District has numerous programs and resources to help customers achieve the conservation goals and manage their own water bill – we are in this together."
Of the approximately 500,000 Contra Costa water customers, those who conserve 15% "will see little to no increase in their water bill," according to officials. Efficient treated water households using fewer than 200 gallons per day will receive a credit to offset the surcharge.
The water district's measures are among the latest throughout the Bay Area, as water officials across the region seek to conserve following the driest start to a year in state history. Data showed January, February and March were California's driest first three months of a year ever, and all of the Bay Area remains in severe or exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Research published in February in the journal Nature Climate Change showed that, since the beginning of the 21st century, the western U.S. has been in its driest period in 1,200 years. Human-caused climate change, according to the study's authors, is accountable for 42% of the soil moisture deficit since the turn of the century.
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