Residents Face an Increase in Water Bills : Rates: The MWD’s drought-proofing plans could lead to annual hikes of $30 to $50 in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark.

Although one expert has declared an end to the drought in Ventura County, officials made it clear Thursday that there is no end in sight to higher bills for residents dependent on water from Northern California.

Already hit with escalating water costs last year, residents of eastern and central Ventura County face another significant increase on their monthly bills this summer, officials said.

Annual bills for residents of the cities of Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark and surrounding rural areas, which receive almost all their water from Northern California through the Metropolitan Water District, could go up by $30 to $50 if the MWD approves a proposed rate increase Tuesday, city officials said.

Officials in Oxnard and Camarillo, where the imported water is blended with ground water, would also have increases, but they would probably be less severe, officials said.

The MWD needs the income from higher rates to pay for $6 billion to $8 billion in new reservoirs, pipelines and treatment plants to help drought-proof Southern California in preparation for the next dry cycle, MWD officials said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Terry Schaeffer said this week that the drought can be considered over in Ventura and southern Santa Barbara counties because of heavy rain in the last two years and increasing local reservoir levels.

But water officials said the effects of the state’s six-year drought continue to be felt, particularly in areas dependent on rainfall in Northern California, where the drought continues.

Suspicious of the latest proposed rate increase, Simi Valley City Councilwoman Judy Mikels said Thursday that she questions increases blamed on the drought, which has left Northern California reservoirs with only 60% of their normal supplies. The city opposed the MWD’s last increase of 13% in July, but reluctantly passed it along to water users, she said.

“If Metropolitan can prove it’s really a safety valve against future drought, it would be more palatable,” Mikels said of the latest round of increases.

The MWD staff wants to raise rates by about 23%, increasing the cost of an acre-foot of water by $61. The water district is also considering an additional surcharge to its 27 member agencies that would filter down to an additional charge of $12 per acre-foot. A third revenue-producing measure would add a flat $5 parcel tax on property bills for those who use MWD water.

In Ventura County, the cost of water per acre-foot would increase from $345 to $420. Each family in the area uses about one-half of an acre-foot per year, although the statewide average is about one acre-foot per each family of five, officials said.

The increase, which would take effect July 1 if approved, would be followed by annual 20% rate hikes that would continue throughout the decade, MWD spokesman Bob Gomperz said. He said the annual hikes would pay for extensive work needed to meet increasing water demand and to update the MWD’s aging delivery system.

The centerpiece of MWD’s plan is a $2-billion reservoir in Riverside County with a capacity of 800,000 acre-feet.

“That would double the existing capacity we have now in Southern California,” Gomperz said.

James Hubert, general manager of Calleguas Municipal Water District, which supplies MWD water to about 485,000 residents in Ventura County, said the price increases are to be expected as the water district struggles to meet the needs of a burgeoning population.

“We just can’t rely on the present system,” he said. “It’s the responsibility of water districts to plan for the future.”

But Hubert said the new facilities do not decrease the need for conservation, reclaiming waste water and desalinating brackish ground water.

Don Nelson, director of utilities for the city of Thousand Oaks, estimated that the increase would result in about $4.25 more per month for residents. That increase would come on top of last year’s increase of $5.25 per month.

“It’s a cost over which we have little or no control,” he said. “Typically, it must be passed on to the customer.”

Anita Bingham, director of finance in Camarillo, said the city has not calculated the increase to its customers.

“But it is safe to say we will not be able to absorb that kind of increase,” she said.

In the city of Oxnard, which uses about two-thirds imported water and one-third well water, analyst Julie Hernandez said the increase from Calleguas alone would translate to a monthly hike of about 10%.