Hetch Hetchy water price increases will hit CCWD customers

The price of Hetch Hetchy water is about to increase to pay for $4.3 billion in earthquake upgrades and new sources of water.  Bay Area water demand is expected to increase 13 percent by 2030 reports Julia Scott in the County Times. And the supply of water from the Sierra snowpack is threatened by changes in the global climate. The County Coastside Water District (CCWD) buys Hetch Hetchy water from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to supplement its local water, Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) gets all its water from local wells.

Customers outside San Francisco who buy their drinking water from the SFPUC, including most residents of San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties, will see their water bills increase 40 percent on average as the agency charges more to pay for the improvements, according to the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency (BAWSCA).

But during a series of public meetings on the draft Hetch Hetchy water system improvement plan this month, conservationists argued that part of the costs for that water won’t be worth it.

One of the project alternatives the SFPUC is considering would divert up to 25 million gallons per day from the upper Tuolomne River, which flows into the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. The Tuolomne already provides 85 percent of the water piped to Bay area customers.