The Santa Clara Valley Water District will lead an open house and public hearing on groundwater production and proposed rate hikes for South County customers April 16 at Morgan Hill City Council Chambers.
The district, which supplies wholesale drinking water to retailers and municipalities such as the city of Morgan Hill, has proposed increasing groundwater charges by up to 13.8 percent for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The current groundwater charge for municipal and industrial users is $319 per acre foot, and district staff has proposed raising that to a maximum of $363 per acre foot for 2015-16.
An acre foot of water is enough to supply a family of five for two years with drinking and household water.
The maximum proposed rate assumes another dry year in the current, ongoing historic statewide drought, according to SCVWD staff. Santa Clara County groundwater supplies depend largely on imported water and rainfall, both of which have fallen dramatically since the drought started more than three years ago.
Sources throughout the state, from which SCVWD imports about 26 percent of its total groundwater supply, are drying up, according to district staff. As a result, SCVWD anticipates spending about $4 million in extra costs in South County to “secure imported water supply, support water conservation rebate efforts, conduct aggressive water conservation outreach and develop future purified water supplies.”
For agricultural water users, SCVWD has proposed increasing rates from $19.14 (current) to $21.79 (2015-16) per acre foot.
“A smooth series of water rate increases had been a part of our long-range planning to address much needed water supply infrastructure investments,” SCVWD CEO Beau Goldie said in a press release. “However, the historic drought has resulted in urgent expenditures that are essential to continue providing a reliable water supply, maintaining a healthy groundwater basin, avoiding the serious consequences of groundwater overdrafting, and avoiding land subsidence and saltwater intrusion.”
An open house at the Morgan Hill Chambers, 17565 Peak Ave., will take place 6 p.m. April 16, with a public hearing and presentation at 7 p.m.
