San Diego’s water prices face doomsday increase
Thursday [June 27] is doomsday for water prices in San Diego. That’s when the region’s water importer – the San Diego County Water Authority – debates whether to boost its prices a whopping 18 percent come Jan. 1. The price increase is massive compared to previous rate increases, and the Water Authority’s biggest customer, the city of San Diego, is pretty ticked off. … San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria directed his powerful contingent of 10 water board members to fight the increase. We won’t know how hard they’ll fight until the full 33-member board meets Thursday afternoon to vote on it. Gloria’s administration is building a water recycling project, which costs billions of dollars. Once its built, in 2035, San Diego won’t buy as much water from the Water Authority. But for now, San Diegans are saddled with the cost of building water recycling and purchasing expensive water from outside city boundaries.