San Diego city residents will see their water rates go up an average of $1.40 a month. It’s the second rate increase this year, but this time it’s not to pay for crumbling infrastructure. Ninety percent of San Diego’s water comes from outside the region and this hike passes along the increased cost of water from other agencies. San Diego water officials said that if residents meet the challenge to save 20 gallons of water a day, their water bills will go down, not up.
Most of the public opposition at City Hall was not to the rate hike, but rather to the fluoride that will be added to the water coming from further north . But San Diego Deputy City Attorney Tom Zeleny said there is no point blaming the city.
Zeleny: The city is not the body putting the fluoride in, neither is it the County Water Authority. It’s the Metropolitan Water Authority. The California Legislature has said it’s a matter of policy for the benefit the health of the people of California to put fluoride in.
The water from the Metropolitan Water Authority will be mixed with water from other sources, so residents in different parts of the city will have different levels of fluoride in their water.