SAN DIEGO — San Diego is at the end of the pipeline when it comes to importing water from the Colorado River and the Sacramento Bay Delta. So it’s no surprise its costs have exceeded those of Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California.
However, a recent report from a leading expert finds there’s more behind the skyrocketing price of water in the San Diego region, which over the last decade has seen wholesale rates increasingly outpace neighbors to the north.
Plummeting demand coupled with a bevy of costly projects — from raising dams to a desalination plant in Carlsbad — created a perfect storm that sent water rates soaring over the last decade, according to a recent analysis by longtime environmental economist Michael Hanemann of Arizona State University.
