How much is EBMUD planning to raise its water rates?

East Bay Municipal Utility District will consider a proposal in June to raise rates over two years for water customers and a increase for wastewater customers to update century-old infrastructure and build new water medication plants Starting in July the proposed rate increase will add about to the average water customer s bill and slightly more than to pay for investments by the general water utility into climate-resilient systems according to EBMUD community information office Nelsy Rodriguez We have to do this now Rodriguez reported Our system is more than years old We turned in and specific of the infrastructure that we have in the ground is still the original infrastructure that we inherited Rodriguez announced that EBMUD is planning billion in capital improvements to wastewater infrastructure in the next two years These plans are part are the first set of infrastructure investments as part of billion in upgrades over the next decade which includes million going toward water medicine facilities and another billion toward water pipe replacements Once they re completed additional infrastructure improvements will not be needed for approximately years according to Rodriguez The revenue raised by the rate increase will also speed up the annual replacements in EBMUD s miles of pipes throughout its system It s a much much better practice to replace pipes than to keep fixing the same broken ones over and over Rodriguez announced The only time anyone thinks about them is when they burst and we have to shut off the water to fix them notable investments in our pipelines mean that people can go on not thinking about water for decades In addition the revenue will pay for new water remedy facilities that utilize UV light and chlorine to treat water from the Sacramento River when droughts force EBMUD to supplement its water sources Rodriguez revealed EBMUD gets its water from the Mokelumne River for the vast majority of the year But during intense droughts the agency siphons water from the Sacramento River to supplement its supplies as occurred in That diversion of water came with complaints from customers who questioned why their water tasted different according to EBMUD agents With the ultraviolet and chlorine disinfection capability we ll be able to treat other source waters to the same high level as our Mokelumne water and customers shouldn t notice a difference Rodriguez declared The EBMUD Board of Directors will hold a populace meeting on June to review the proposed budget with its rate increases If approved by directors a increase would be implemented on July with an additional increase set to take effect on July