Rates To Increase For Sonoma County Water Agency Customers

SONOMA COUNTY, CA -- If you're a customer of the Sonoma County Water Agency, your rates are about to go up.

On April 11, the Sonoma County Water Agency Board of Directors unanimously approved a $39.24 million Water Transmission system budget for 2017-18, with the budget including a 4.98 percent rate increase in wholesale water rates for Santa Rosa and Petaluma aqueduct customers and a 5.58 percent increase for Sonoma Aqueduct customers.

The Water Agency is a water wholesaler that sells potable water to nine cities and special districts, which then sell drinking water to their residents.

The SCWA's new fiscal year begins July 1, and this, according to the water agency, will result in a one to two percent increase for the households and businesses it serves, including City of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma, Sonoma, the Town of Windsor, Valley of the Moon Water District, Marin Municipal Water District, and North Marin Water District.

For example, the water agency says, a typical Santa Rosa household will pay an additional 90 cents per month as a result of the wholesale rate increase, or about $11 per year.

Rates for retail customers (cities and water districts) will vary, the water agency says.

The $39.24 million water transmission system budget, which is a four percent decrease from 2016-17, is expected to help fund critical infrastructure improvement projects, including two earthquake hazard mitigation projects: the Russian River and Mark West Creek pipeline crossings, and installation of isolation valves in aqueducts, the water agency has said.

Other non-routine maintenance projects include the recoating of interior and exterior surfaces of water tanks, and replacement of the cathodic protection system to prevent pipeline corrosion.

The water transmission budget also includes costs associated with operating, maintaining and funding nearly 100 miles of water supply pipelines, pumps and storage facilities that provide drinking water to more than 600,000 residents in portions of Sonoma and Marin counties, as well as costs associated with implementing critical habitat restoration and fishery recovery efforts within the Russian River Watershed.

“Maintaining our infrastructure and preparing for earthquake events is an investment in keeping our water system safe and reliable,” Water Agency Chair Shirlee Zane said in a statement.

Wholesale water rates will increase based on the aqueduct in which a city receives its water, as noted below:

• 4.98 percent for Santa Rosa and Petaluma aqueduct contractors, which includes the cities of Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, and Cotati;
• 5.58 percent for Sonoma aqueduct contractors, which includes the city of Sonoma and the Valley of the Moon Water District. This rate is slightly higher than the above aqueducts to help pay down costs associated specifically with this aqueduct;
• 7.76 percent for the Marin Municipal Water District;
• 6.78 percent for the North Marin Water District.

Wholesale water rates are created by using a calculation outlined under a legal binding agreement between the Water Agency and its water contractors. This document, called the Restructured Agreement for Water Supply, requires the Water Agency to set rates based on budgeted operations and maintenance costs and past water sales.

More information about wholesale water rates is available at www.sonomacountywater.org.

Image via Shutterstock