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The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board voted Tuesday for an overall rate increase of 14.3percent. The cost is expected to trickle down to smaller local water suppliers.
"We've been talking about this for six months or so," said Brian Thomas, assistant general manager and chief financial officer for the MWD. "As we saw the impacts of the federal court decision, it just became clear we were going to have to make this increase."
The agency has been forced to branch out from its standard water supply to make up for the shortfall, Thomas said.
The federal ruling to protect the threatened Delta smelt cut the supply of water to Southern California by two-thirds.
In addition, the MWD has been affected by a long-term regional drought and has been grappling with controlling the infestation of quagga mussels in the Colorado River aqueduct, a main supply line.
All of which contributed to the rate increase, Thomas said.
On average, the rate increase, which takes effect Jan. 1, translates to residents paying $1.50 more per month on their water bills, he said.
The rate hike comes on the heels of another measure expected to affect water prices in the future.
A month ago, the MWD adopted a plan that would penalize client water agencies exceeding their allocation.
The Inland Empire Utilities Agency purchases roughly one-third of its water from the MWD.
The agency, in turn, sells water to six San Bernardino County cities, including Chino, Montclair, Ontario and Upland.
The MWD rate increase will be passed down to the cities' municipal water agencies, said Wyatt Troxel, president of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency board.
"Most likely, those agencies if they don't have enough buffer in their rate structure - and most of them do not - then they would have to be looking at a rate increase in the near future," Troxel said.
The cost impact is expected to be less in the areas served by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency because it does not purchase treated water from the MWD, Thomas said.
The Cucamonga Water District, which serves Rancho Cucamonga and a portion of Fontana, derives about 50percent of its water from the MWD.
"This isn't unexpected. We heard this was coming," said Robert DeLoach, general manager and CEO. "I don't know exactly how much the impact is going to be for us."
The district will hold off adopting higher rates until next year, a process that will involve a public hearing, he said.
The district, however, has been separately planning to implement a tiered-rate system in April that will penalize customers using excessive amounts of water.
The San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, another major water supplier that also relies on water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley, does not expect its rates to be affected, said Douglas Headrick, deputy general manager.
The district, which purchases the delta water directly from the state, serves an area stretching from Fontana to Yucaipa.
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