Council adopts schedule of water and wastewater rate adjustments, investing in long term water resiliency
June 12, 2025 8:17 AM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (June 11, 2025) – At its meeting last night, the Santa Monica City Council held a public hearing to adopt new water, sewer and recycled water rates for the next five years.
The rate adoption aligns with the strategic approach that aims to balance affordability while adequately investing to ensure long-term water quality, resiliency, sustainability and reliability for Santa Monica.
Under the new water and sewer rate structure, Santa Monica’s water and sewer rates remain competitive with neighboring communities and customers will see an average 12 percent increase in water and sewer charges each year for the next five years.
The new rates will maintain funding for routine Capital Improvement Projects, keep pace with inflation, and support the city’s efforts to bolster service reliability and resiliency by rehabilitating its potable water reservoirs and replacing its aging water operations center and water quality laboratory.
The city’s four potable water reservoirs range from 60 to 100 years old and are critical to the city’s safety and water self-sufficiency. They provide nearly 40 million gallons of storage capacity – or about four days’ worth of water supply for the entire city – help maintain system pressure and provide more than 24 hours of fire-fighting supply.
Rehabilitating the reservoirs aligns with key Safety Element goals adopted by the City Council earlier this year, including seismically resilient infrastructure, resilient water storage, the ability to meet peak load water supply needs and having emergency water supply available in the event of a natural disaster.
The new rates will allow the city to continue to provide high-quality drinking water and reliable wastewater services to Santa Monica’s 93,000+ residents and 2,700+ businesses.
The adjusted rates were shared with the community through neighborhood organization meetings, local business organizations and open houses.
On April 21, Proposition 218 notices were mailed to all water and sewer customers and property owners of record. The protest period for the rate increases closed with the conclusion of the public hearing before City Council last night. The number of protests submitted was well below the threshold of 9,181 that would be required to stop the proposed rate changes.
The new rate structure will go into effect July 1 and begin appearing on utility bills starting in September.
To view the council discussion, click here. For more information on water and sewer rates, visit santamonica.gov/waterrrates.
Media Contact
Tati Simonian
Public Information Officer
Tati.Simonian@santamonica.gov