Water rates to increase for Tacoma residents in 2020
Water rates for people living in Tacoma will change in the new year.
Starting Jan. 1, 2020, residential water rates will increase by 2.9 percent, or an average of about $1 per month.
The average resident was estimated to pay about $39.51 a month for water in 2019, according to Tacoma Public Utilities. That would increase to about $40.58, estimates show.
TPU and Tacoma City Council approved the water rate adjustments in 2018. Water rates also increased by 2.9 percent in 2019.
The rate increase is the lowest it’s been in recent years. In 2017 and 2018, rates increased for residents by 4 percent.
“Our goal is to ensure clean, reliable drinking water for families and future generations in our community,” said Scott Dewhirst, superintendent for Tacoma Water. “We take many factors into consideration to inform a rate increase: the cost to provide safe water, the cost to protect the Green River Watershed where our water comes from, and the costs associated with replacement and repair of 1,300 miles of pipe. We’re committed to finding savings on the things we can control in order to offset the things we can’t.”
According to TPU, the funds help pay for:
▪ Operating TPU filtration facility at the Green River.
▪ Maintaining 24 wells to supplement water needs.
▪ Protecting thousands of acres in the Green River Watershed.
▪ Upgrading and maintaining 1,376 miles of water main infrastructure.
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 6:10 AM.
