Santa Monica Prepared for MWD Hikes

The Metropolitan Water District—which supplies about 30 percent of Santa Monica's water—has approved a 10 percent hike in wholesale rates by 2014.

The MWD said the rate hike would help pay for repairs to the state's aqueduct system and infrastructure. Although the MWD doesn't charge homeowners and other water users directly, its higher fees are likely to be passed along by local water agencies.

The city of Santa Monica, however, predicted hikes when it adopted its budgets through 2014, so residents and businesses won't see any additional bumps, according to Water Resources Manager Gilbert Borboa.

A 5 percent increase in MWD's water rates will begin in January 2013 and again in January 2014. Santa Monica budgeted for a 6 percent jump. The new rates approved Wednesday will have Santa Monica paying $53 more per acre foot—a total of $847—starting Jan. 1.

"There’s enough of a float to accommodat this increase in the MWD rates, that in the short term, it won’t affect Santa Monica [customers] at all," he said.

Nearly half of the MWD's infrastructure is more than 60 years old. The 242-mile Colorado River Aqueduct was completed in 1939. The share of MWD's budget earmarked for refurbishing infrastructure has jumped from about 30 percent in 1998-99 to more than 50 percent over the next two years, officials said.

"Our costs are increasing for a number of reasons," MWD general manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said. "One of the biggest is the constant need to repair and upgrade our aging system to ensure the continued reliable delivery of water.''

The rate hikes would have been steeper if the MWD hadn't eliminated 160 staff positions over the past three years, said Jeffrey Kightlinger, the MWD's general manager.

City staffers are working now on preparing a study for new rates after July 1, 2014. Barboa said he expects to have rate projections ready by December.

"I have a very good feeling for rates in outgoing years after the 2012-13 fiscal year," he said.

By 2020, local officials expect that Santa Monica will be 100 percent dependent on its own groundwater sources. 

This rate increase is also not likely to affect water bills in the city of Los Angeles very much. Department of Water and Power customers could see a one-percent increase, but the actual amount could be more in a year with less snowpack or less in a year with high precipitation.

On Tuesday, the MWD board approved a $1.78 billion budget for fiscal year 2012-13 and $1.89 billion for 2013-14. The budget includes $20 million a year for conservation programs and $33 million annually for a program that provides incentives for local water agencies to recycle.

The agency will also contribute $25 million to study an environmental conservation plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the MWD gets about 30 percent of Southern California's water supply.

— City News Service contributed to this report.