> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Water rates on the rise - URL: https://www.smdp.com/water-rates-on-the-rise/ - Published: 2008-04-25T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-24T23:55:43.000Z - Author: Melody Hanatani - Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Local water rates could go up starting in late summer* CITYWIDE The price of flushing a toilet or allowing a garden hose to wastefully drip away could become costlier as city officials are considering raising water and wastewater rates this summer. In order to stabilize rapidly depleting reserve funds, City Hall is proposing to institute a five-year rate structure plan that would increase water and wastewater assessments — outside of the Consumer Price Index — every year, starting in the upcoming fiscal year. If the proposal is approved by the City Council, which is expected to happen in July, Santa Monicans would see their water rates increase by 11.5 percent and wastewater by 18 percent in the first year. Part of the reason for the rate increases is to help replenish certain reserve funds that have been slowly draining under a current rate structure that has only allowed CPI increases since 1999, according to Gil Borboa, the water resources manager. During a study session with the City Council on Tuesday, Borboa presented the proposed five-year plan for both water and wastewater rates. Each proposal came with a suboption that included lower rate increases every year — with the exception of the final year in the plan — thanks to the inclusion of $2.5 million from the MTBE settlement. City Hall received a $131 million settlement from three major oil companies in late 2006 to pay for costs related to the design, construction and operation of a treatment facility to clean up MTBE from the drinking water at the Charnock Well Field. It was in 1996 when five groundwater production wells were shut down in the Charnock Well Field after a leak of MTBE, a motor gasoline additive, was discovered from underground storage tanks and pipes owned by the three oil companies. The current rate structure was adopted in 1996. There have been only CPI increases for water since 1999 and wastewater since 2001, with the exception of fiscal year 2005-06 when the council adopted a 6 percent increase. “The expenses continue to rise — materials get more expensive, fuel gets more expensive, power gets more expensive and water gets more expensive,”Borboa said during the council meeting. A comparison between the average rate payer’s water bill under the rate structure that includes and excludes the MTBE settlement shows a negligible difference of only a few dollars during a typical bimonthly payment cycle. The same goes for wastewater. Under the proposed structure that excludes the MTBE settlement, the average single family home would pay approximately $74 every two months for water, as opposed to $73 under the structure that includes the settlement. The proposal also includes eliminating a bimonthly fixed service charge, resulting in a water bill that is directly related to the amount of water used. Borboa said the change would provide more incentive for rate payers to conserve water. During the meeting, Councilmember Kevin McKeown initially expressed support for the option that would include the MTBE settlement, a suggestion that was not as popular with other councilmembers who felt that the money should be placed in reserves. “We should not be subsidizing this with money from the MTBE at all,” Councilmember Ken Genser said. “I believe that philosophically, period.” Genser suggested placing the money in reserves so that it could be possibly spent on other uses, such as open space. McKeown said he felt the money should be used for water-related uses, but decided to support the structure plan without the MTBE settlement after Genser informed him that the money could be used for unforeseen circumstances related to water and wastewater costs. “I say we leave it in the legacy fund and hope we will never need it for unforeseen capital,” Genser said. McKeown’s concerns were related to a possible scenario in which City Hall would need to continue purchasing a bulk of its water from the Metropolitan Water District, from which Santa Monicans receive about 85 percent of its water from as a result of the MTBE contamination. The proposal that City Hall presented assumes that the MWD would not be relied upon as heavily past 2010\. Under the rate structure that excludes the MTBE, rate payers would see an 11.5 percent increase in water starting in August, a 10.5 percent increase every year of the plan with the exception of the final year when the hike is only 9 percent. The MWD approved a 14 percent water increase in March. The increases are a bit steeper for waste-water — rate payers would pay 18 percent this year, 18 percent next year, 15 percent in 2010, 8 percent in 2011 and 5 percent in 2012\. Borboa is expected to report back to the council on May 13 with the final recommendations. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/042508-02_01.jpg) CLEAN UP: Martin Santiago washes his car on Thursday at the Thrifty Car Wash on Maple Street. (Photo: Photos by Brandon Wise) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/042508-02_02.jpg) CLEAN UP: Martin Santiago washes his car on Thursday at the Thrifty Car Wash on Maple Street. (Photo: Photos by Brandon Wise) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 25, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042508.pdf?ref=smdp.com)