Water district approves raising rates

Deirdre Newman

As the June gloom evaporates and the summer sun sends kids scurrying

toward the sprinklers, the cost of that relief will be going up.

On July 1, water rates in Costa Mesa will be going up 5%, which

means residents will be paying, on average, an extra $1.44 per month.

The Mesa Consolidated Water District’s Board of Directors approved

the increase when it adopted its new budget on June 22.

This is the third increase in less than two years. The reason

remains the same: water costs continue to increase.

“Our wholesale costs have increased because of increased water

consumption,” board President Fred Bockmiller said.

Mesa Consolidated gets most of its water from a groundwater basin.

This basin is refilled from the natural flow of the Santa Ana River

and artificial recharge from the spreading basin near Anaheim,

Bockmiller said.

But over the last decade, the water in the basin has gotten lower

as Orange County has been using more than has been coming into the

basin. This makes it harder to get the water out of the basin, so the

basin has to be refilled, at a cost. The river has also been

experiencing a drought, Bockmiller said.

“It’s more expensive than free water that falls out of the sky,”

Bockmiller said.

The increase to the water district is about 15%, but the board is

paying for some of the one-time expenses out of its reserves,

Bockmiller said.

Former Costa Mesa Mayor Sandra Genis said she doesn’t mind

shelling out a little more for water.

“When you consider what we get and how far they bring it and

everything, it’s a good deal,” Genis said. “And I drink tap water.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.