Here's how much your Phoenix water bill could increase next year
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Phoenix plans to start charging its biggest water users extra fees as soon as next year.
Why it matters: If you take luxurious showers or have a lawn worthy of a golf course, get ready for your bill to go up.
Catch up quick: Starting Jan. 1, Arizona is set to lose roughly 27% of its Colorado River water, which is delivered to many Valley cities through Central Arizona Project (CAP) canals.
- In a presentation to the City Council on Tuesday, Phoenix water resources management adviser Max Wilson said he expects the city to sustain a roughly 30% cut in its CAP water.
- Those cuts will prompt the city to enter into Stage 2 of its Drought Management Plan in January, triggering additional water use fees.
Context: Stage 2 is a "water warning," while Stage 3 is a "water emergency," which involves mandatory reductions.
- Stage 4 is a "water crisis," in which the city takes additional measures "to protect human health and safety," per the plan.
Here's how the drought surcharge will work for residential water users under Stage 2:
- The city measures water usage in units of 748 gallons, and households that use more than 20 units a month — or 14,960 gallons — will pay an extra $2.10 for each additional unit.
- That'll affect about 16% of residential customers, per Water Services Department director Brandy Kelso. The median single-family household uses 11 units of water a month.
- You can check your monthly usage on the city's utilities website.
Follow the money: With surcharges also planned for a portion of commercial and industrial users, the city expects to levy about $40 million in surcharges over the course of a year.
- That estimate takes into account reduced water use in response to the extra fees.
Zoom in: Surcharges aren't the only aspect of Stage 2.
- The city also will ask customers to voluntarily decrease water usage by 5% and city departments to cut usage by 10%.
- Phoenix will perform more water use consultations for homeowners, and will increase incentives for removing grass and installing smart irrigation controllers.
Zoom out: The city is pursuing other conservation and reuse efforts, including the construction of purification plants, the implementation of a water exchange program and participation in an effort to expand Bartlett Dam.
Yes, but: The expected completion date of the dam project was recently pushed back 10 years to 2045, though local stakeholders likely will push the federal government to speed things up.