Long Beach Water Department proposed an amendment to the use of underground and recycled water, which would make the district less reliant on water from the Metropolitan Water District. However, the cities of Signal Hill, Downey, and Cerritos disagreed with the amendments, so a formal hearing is scheduled for late August.
The 17% proposed increase in water rates comes on the heels of last years 15.5% increase. Although water use has dropped 15.5% over the past ten years, Metropolitan Water District raised its rates 22% this year, and it supplies half of the water used by Long Beach Water Department.
There is a good chance the proposed increase will go through because the alternatives are expensive and take years to take effect. Long Beach encourages its customers to conserve water to help alleviate the reliance on MWD’s water supply. Long term solutions are desalination and reuse of recycled groundwater through the use of aquifers.
You can read the article, entitled “Water Rate Hikes Likely To Continue Despite Savings” here.
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