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District No. 23 - GENERIC NOTICE

The Sanitation Districts clean your wastewater (sewage) and turn it into resources 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This is a complex process that ensures cleaned water is safe for the public and the environment. You are receiving this notice to inform you of proposed rates, related informational meetings and the public hearing scheduled for consideration of these rates.

We serve over 5.5 million people in 78 cities and unincorporated areas throughout Los Angeles County, treating 391 million gallons of wastewater per day in a way that is both environmentally sound and cost effective. That’s enough water to fill the Rose Bowl five times every single day. Your city owns the smaller sewers that collect wastewater generated in homes and businesses. From there, the city’s smaller sewers flow into one of our larger sewers and then to one of our 11 wastewater treatment plants. The wastewater is then cleaned and 10 of our 11 plants produce high-quality recycled water that is suitable for a wide range of uses.

Although our recycled water essentially meets drinking water standards, we don’t directly drink it. Instead, our recycled water is used to replenish our groundwater supplies and irrigate parks, golf courses, schools and other greenbelt areas. Collectively, this water reuse reduces the demand on our drinking water supply and lessens the need for water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

In total, we produce nearly 147 million gallons of recycled water every day. Our recycled water is now used at over 900 different locations throughout Los Angeles County, and we’ve partnered with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on a program that could recycle water from our last untapped water source.

Since the 1960s, the Sanitation Districts have been processing wastewater through our water reclamation plants to produce recycled water—a vital resource for our communities. With extended drought and strains on our imported water supplies, investing in water recycling infrastructure is more important than ever.

Green Energy

Each year, we remove over 500,000 tons of solids while cleaning wastewater. We biodegrade these solids and produce enough biogas (mostly methane) to generate 20 megawatts of electricity— enough to make our largest wastewater treatment plant energy self-sufficient and saving our ratepayers millions of dollars. In recent years, we have been mixing food waste with these solids. This program reduces our need for landfills and increases the amount of biogas we produce—gas that is used as green vehicle fuel.

Your quality of life is important to us. In addition to handling your wastewater, we’re actively involved in educational programs at schools across the county, from elementary through high school. Since September 2021, our Sewer Science educational program reached over 2,000 kids in almost 20 schools. We’re also happy to give talks to community groups and provide tours of our facilities—either in-person or virtually.

Before asking for any rate increases, we look for cost savings everywhere we can, which includes:

• Sharing administrative staff among 24 independent Sanitation Districts
• Collective buying power for volume discounts on chemical purchases
• Keeping electricity costs down by reducing energy consumption and utilizing electricity markets to secure the lowest purchase prices possible
• Supplementing revenues with the sale of reclaimed water
• Pursuing grants and low-interest state and federal loans to fund large projects

To the right you can see how we stack up against other comparable sewerage agencies. The rates shown to the right reflect the average homeowner’s cost for sewerage service. The Sanitation Districts’ (LACSD) number consists of our proposed rate shown on the right, any fees levied by your city for collecting your sewage, and the small amount of property taxes used to fund the sewerage system.

Your District is one of 17 that form the Joint Outfall System (JOS), a system of sewers and treatment plants, serving southern and eastern Los Angeles County. Each District pays its proportionate share— through property tax revenues, service charges, and reserves—for JOS operations. The average cost paid by each homeowner or business type is the same from District to District. Only a small percentage of property tax revenue is available to cover operating costs. The remaining cost is proportionally distributed to each user based on their discharge. Because sewage metering is expensive and impractical for all but large industrial dischargers, we estimate each user’s discharge using standard loading factors corresponding to the types and sizes of facilities on the user’s parcel.

Proposed Rates (To see proposed rate for your parcel, click here.)

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The current and proposed rates, on a per sewage unit (SU) basis (an SU is equal to the discharge from one single-family home), are:

In addition to inflation, the cost of operating the sewage system has risen steadily due to increasing state and federal regulatory requirements. We also need to address aging infrastructure—most notably two existing tunnels that have been in service for over 60 years and do not meet current seismic codes. Your parcel already receives the minimum charge per unit available for residential parcels. Construction of a new 7-mile tunnel is underway and essential to managing the cleaned water produced at our largest facility and will help facilitate large-scale water recycling. We finance these improvements so that the cost is paid by the rate payers over the useful life of the infrastructure. Maintaining appropriate reserves helps the Sanitation District obtain favorable financing, as well as plan for emergencies and avoid spikes in rates. Because your sanitation district has sufficient reserves to cover anticipated costs, we are proposing to REDUCE your rates.

Proposition 218 requires that all protests of the proposed rate structure must be submitted in writing prior to the conclusion of the public hearing. The protest must identify your parcel by including the Assessor’s ID provided above and be signed by the owner. It can be mailed to the Sanitation Districts at P.O. Box 4000, Whittier, CA 90607-4000. A scanned copy of your protest, including your signature, may be submitted via email to rates@lacsd.org. You have only 120 days after final passage of this rate increase to file a lawsuit challenging it. Click here to view a fillable protest form.

In addition to the virtual meetings and tours listed below, there are several other resources available where you can find out more about the Sanitation Districts and the entire rate-setting process. Recordings of the virtual information meetings and tours will be available on our website.

• Visit our website at www.lacsd.org/rates
• Email us at rates@lacsd.org
• Send regular mail to us at Sanitation Districts, P.O. Box 4000, Whittier, CA 90607-4000
• Call us toll free at 855-240-9506

Upcoming Prop 218 Information Meetings, Tours and Public Hearings

Due to the pandemic, all meetings will be virtual. If you wish to join by phone, call 669-900-9128 and enter the meeting’s Zoom ID. If you would like assistance, call 855-240-9506.