More family members means more water for some San Jose residents

In San Jose, residents are beginning to question the mandatory cutbacks that were established in response to the drought in California. The San Jose Water Company had established a one size fits all plan for reduction, allocating families with a particular amount of water. Once a household went over that threshold, they would face a surcharge for every extra unit of water.

“We have six people in our house, and one young girl who is blind. It takes longer to bathe her,” San Jose resident Jim Walker told Mercury News. “Why should a family of six have the same amount [of water] as a family of two? It doesn’t make any sense.”

The San Jose Water Company is implementing an appeals process that allows higher levels of water allocation for people with “health and safety” needs. Under that special process, larger families and individuals with medical issues would be allocated more water than the average household.

Across the state, water agencies are implementing water cutbacks. Most of the water curbing percentages are based on an individual home’s water usages from 2013. San Jose, however, doesn’t follow that same formula. Instead, the San Jose Water Company created the threshold based off the average amount of water consumed in San Jose and subtracted 30 percent, the cutback percentage that is required by Governor Brown’s water restrictions.

In order to encourage water utility agencies to take the drought in California seriously, Governor Brown has mandated a $10,000 per day fine for water agencies who are failing to meet their target rates.

“The utilities are on the hook for these fines and penalties,” Jim Booth, program supervisor for California Public Utilities Commission’s Division of Water and Audits, told Mercury News. “It’s not coming out of the ratepayers, it is coming from the shareholders.”