Funding for day to day operations of our Community Service District, including salaries for District staff, originates solely from water sales. Due to increasingly stringent water quality requirements specified by the State Division of Drinking Water, WCSD is currently in the process of constructing a state-of-the-art water treatment plant that will allow us to meet regulatory requirements for disinfection byproducts. Fortunately, the District’s General Manager has secured grant funding for construction of the treatment plant at no cost to our rate payers. Nevertheless, professional operation of this new treatment plant will require that our district hire additional staff which will increase the District’s operating costs.
For the past several years, in anticipation of the District’s future operating costs once the new treatment plant is constructed and in operation, our District has made steady annual increases to both the base rate and the commodity rate for water provided to our customers. Some of these rate increases may be partially offset by additional customers that the District hopes to add once the treatment plant is in operation, but we anticipate that continuing annual rate increases will be required to allow our District to successfully and professionally function.
No water customer “likes” water rate increases, but it is critical that our District remains solvent and continues to develop operating budgets that are realistic and adequate to continue to provide first-rate water quality and water service.
The 2025-26 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury recently published a report concerning the challenges that Community Services District have faced when they have denied the need to increased operating revenues so as to keep rates low. To read this report, click on 2025-26 Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury Report.