Crescenta Water Rates to Rise an Average $5

Crescenta Valley County Water District, which serves La Crescenta, Montrose and small areas of Glendale and La Canada Flintridge, will increase the price of water and sewer services on Jan. 1, raising residential bills an average of $5.06 a month.

The cost of water will increase to $1.70 from $1.54 per 1,000 gallons, and sewer rates will rise to $8.40 from $5.90 a month for a single-family residence, with proportionate increases for commercial properties and apartment buildings.

The average residential customer will pay $2.56 more for water and $2.50 more for sewers each month, an announcement from the district said.

Rebuilding Hyperion

The increases are necessary to pay for the rising costs of water and power and for the district’s estimated $1.5-million share of the bill to rebuild the Hyperion sewage treatment plant on the Pacific Coast at El Segundo, said Robert K. Argenio, district general manager.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered the rebuilding of the Hyperion plant, which is operated by the City of Los Angeles, to add more sophisticated treatment. The district has a contract to send its sewage to the City of Glendale, which in turn sends some of its sewage to the Hyperion plant.

The amount the district must pay is in proportion to the amount of its sewage treated at the Hyperion plant, Argenio said.

“We don’t like raising rates,” he said, adding that the district’s last water-rate increase was in January, 1984, and last sewer-rate increase was in July, 1984.