Water Rates to Rise 12% in November

The Palmdale Water District has approved its first rate increase in nearly two years, with most of the district’s 17,000 customers expected to pay about 12% more for water starting in November.

The five-member board of directors of the public water district, which serves the east side of Palmdale and surrounding unincorporated areas, adopted the increase Tuesday night in an attempt to cover a forecast deficit of about $800,000 for the current calendar year.

The amount of increase varies by type of user. But district officials said a typical residential customer now paying about $31 a month to use about 30,000 gallons would now pay about $35 a month. The district last increased rates in February, 1989.