South San Francisco City Council
September 11, 2024

California Water Service
Investing in our Communities
Sept. 11, 2024
Cal Water: History, Expertise, Scale
2 • Formed in 1926, nearly 100 years of experience
• Service areas across CA
• Serve more than two million Californians
through almost 500,000 service connections
• More than 80 billion gallons of water annually
3 Beijing New York
6,500+ miles of water main
To
Cal Water: History, Expertise, Scale
Cal Water in South San Francisco
• Part of this community since 1931
• 68 local employees with 599
years of combined professional
experience and 117 professional
certifications
• Population served = more than
64,000 people
• 16,484 service connections
4 Cal Water in South San Francisco
5 • 160 miles of main
• 6 ground water wells
• 13 storage tanks
• 1 groundwater treatment plants
• Approximately 1,500 fire
hydrants
Cal Water in South San Francisco
6 • Local partnership with South San
Francisco Chamber of Commerce
• South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
Education Foundation Scholarship sponsor
• Annual business awards event sponsor
• Taste of South San Francisco Sponsor
• On the Board of Directors
DRAFT
Infrastructure Improvement Plan
Where each dollar goes
8 Safe, clean, reliable
drinking water = our top priority
• 500,000+ water quality tests in CA per
year
• 12,684 water quality tests here in 2023
• Monitoring for more than 230
substances
• Among the safest water in the nation
• Our customers pay about a penny per
gallon
9 Proactive, Ongoing Maintenance and
Improvements = Safer Communities
• Cal Water invested $1.5 billion statewide in infrastructure from 2013 to 2022 to ensure the continued safety and reliability of water systems – more than any water company in the state
• We invested more than $145 million here in our Bayshore District infrastructure over that same horizon
• We propose to invest an additional $141 million in this next cycle 10 Making Our Communities Safer
Proactive, ongoing maintenance and upgrades, such as:
• Wildfire protection and emergency preparedness (e.g., maintaining fire hydrants and generators)
• Seeking to prevent sinkholes, or hospitals from losing water
• Proactively addressing impacts of climate change (e.g., sustainability, wildfire resilience, flood protection)
11 DRAFT
Preventing Small, Manageable
Problems from Getting Worse
• Maintenance and upgrades prevent bigger, more
expensive problems
• Already delayed some improvements over the last decade to help keep costs affordable and minimize the impact on customers during the pandemic
• Our proposed upgrades now will help keep costs lower in the long run, and help prevent things from becoming
more expensive to fix later
12 DRAFT
13 • Storage tank redesign and tank
improvements
• Automated Metering Infrastructure
• Brackish water study
• Valve and pump replacements
• Proposed 81,000 feet of main
replacement
DRAFT
Investing in Our System
to Provide Safe, Clean Water
Transparent Process
14 • Committed to being transparent with our customers and providing information in real time
• Proposed Infrastructure Improvement Plan (IIP) will affect customer bills, and we are proactive in our communications with customers regarding the IIP and any bill changes
Transparent Process
15 • As submitted, customers will see a +1.4¢
per day increase in 2026
• We’ll also continue to promote our
existing customer bill assistance
programs and conservation programs
Conservation is a way of life
• Rebates
• High-efficiency toilet rebate (Up $50)
• High-efficiency clothes washer rebate (Up to $150)
• Smart irrigation controller rebate (Up to $125)
• High-efficiency sprinkler nozzle rebate (up to $5 per nozzle) • Lawn-to-garden (turf replacement) rebate ($3 per sq ft. up 1,500 sq ft.) • Smart Landscape Tune-up Program (landscape site evaluation) 16 Rate structure
Previous
• Service charge $26.77
• 1-7 CCF per CCF $7.2380
• 8-10 CCF per CCF $9.0458
• >10 CCF per CCF$13.5652
17 Current
• Service charge $29.09
• 1-6 CCF per CCF $3.4509
• 7-9 CCF per CCF $13.7316
• 10-13 CCF per CCF $17.1585
• >13 per CCF $25.7257
Transparent Process
• Rates are set by independent experts every three
years, not by Cal Water
• All proposed infrastructure improvements and
other costs are thoroughly vetted by the California
Public Advocates Office
• The Public Advocate’s mission is to “obtain the
lowest possible rate for service consistent with
reliable and safe service levels”
• And that is our goal, too
18 Here for You
There are multiple ways for Cal Water customers to reach out to us:
• 24/7 emergency support
• At-home service, 5 days per week
• Connect with your local team 7am-7pm by phone
• Calwater.com/IIP for more info on our proposed Infrastructure Improvement Plan
19