City Council Unanimously Adopts New Water Rates to Support Critical Infrastructure Investments into Pleasanton’s Aging Water System

City Council Unanimously Adopts New Water Rates to Support Critical Infrastructure Investments into Pleasanton's Aging Water System

• October 8, 2025

On Tuesday night, the Pleasanton City Council held a public hearing to consider proposed water rates for the next four years, beginning January 1, 2026. After careful consideration and community input, the City Council unanimously adopted the proposed rates, including adjustments to the City's water, sewer, and recycled water rates as recommended by City staff.

The rate-setting process began a year ago when the City hired Water Resources Economics, LLC (WRE) to conduct a Comprehensive Water Rate Study. The study, conducted in accordance with Proposition 218, recommended cost-based, fair, and legally defensible rates and connection fees to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the City's water enterprise fund. The analysis and proposed rate changes were first presented at the March 4 City Council meeting and again on July 15, 2025, when the City Council officially accepted the water rate study and approved public hearing notices to be mailed to all 22,000 customers.

"No one wants to pay more for water, but we also have to be realistic about the costs of maintaining a safe and reliable system," said Mayor Jack Balch. "We've taken a detailed, transparent approach to understand the condition of our system and make responsible decisions. This action ensures we can improve water reliability today and invest wisely for the future."

Like most water providers across California, Pleasanton is facing challenges related to aging infrastructure, stricter regulatory requirements, higher water quality standards, and rising construction costs. In recent years, the City has experienced an increase in water line breaks and emergency repairs, which can cost up to ten times more than proactive infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.

Since 2023, the City has taken a proactive and forward-thinking approach to addressing these challenges. This includes developing a Water System Management Plan that identifies more than $73 million in infrastructure, operations, and maintenance needs for Pleasanton's water system, as well as establishing a financial framework to prioritize and fund these critical projects.

"This decision reflects more than a year of work to evaluate our system, plan for the future, and complete the City's three-step process - from the Water System Management Plan to the Financial Analysis and Rate Study," said Gerry Beaudin, Pleasanton City Manager. "With these rates in place, we're ready to get to work making the critical upgrades and improvements needed to keep Pleasanton's water system safe and reliable for years to come."

The adopted rates reflect the City's overall capital improvement and financial needs over the next four years, as well as changes to its rate structure. These changes include implementing uniform, consumption-based variable charges for all customer classes and recovering 100 percent of Zone 7's fixed costs as pass-through fixed charges to customers.

The new rates will affect customers differently depending on their water usage. Customers who use less water may see a larger increase than those with higher water consumption, due to the shift to a uniform-rate structure. A chart detailing the rate impacts for typical customer usage levels is available online. Overall, 52 percent of bi-monthly water bills will increase by $20 to $40 in the first year. Customers are encouraged to review their current water use and the new rates to see how their water bills might change over the next four years

Throughout the rate-setting process, the City has encouraged public participation by establishing a citizen advisory committee, hosting its first Pleasanton Water open house, distributing community questionnaires, issuing press releases, creating new webpages, maintaining ongoing social media posts, and providing regular e-newsletter updates.

The City last updated its water rates in 2023 as part of a two-year emergency rate increase following the discontinuation of its groundwater wells, which required the City to import all of its water supply from Zone 7. Prior to this, while Zone 7 raised its fixed and variable water rates from 2011 to 2022, the City's rates were only adjusted for inflation. As a result, the City's rates could no longer adequately meet the aging infrastructure needs.

At the public hearing, the City Council also approved the annual cost-of-living increase of 2.7 percent for the City's sewer rates. The City will conduct a similar process and sewer rate study to determine any necessary rate adjustments to meet the City's sewer collection needs.

Customers can visit the City's Water Rate page to review detailed rate tables, compare sample bills, and access tools that help estimate the impact of their bills under the new structure.