State OKs Sale of City Water System
The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved the sale of West Covina’s municipal water system, which serves a small portion of the city, to Suburban Water Systems.
The West Covina City Council is expected to finalize the $11.5-million sale later this month, city officials said. Water customers in December voted by nearly a 9-1 margin in favor of the sale and council members have taken votes supporting that stance.
About 4,000 residential and commercial customers are served by the municipal system, which also provides water to 3,000 customers in neighboring Walnut. Those customers will have their water rates cut by 15% for each of the next four years. Suburban already provides water to a majority of the properties in the city, which has a population of 101,000.
West Covina charges its water customers more than Suburban because the city is not allowed to pump area ground water, as is the private firm. Consequently, the city must buy more expensive water from the Metropolitan Water District, city officials said.
The city estimates that water customers pay an average of $75 every two months while those served by Suburban in the city pay less than $52.
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