HOUSTON – Houston’s water rates are going up again in less than two weeks on April 1st. It’s the fourth increase since September of 2021. Houston Public Works has not yet released the actual new rate table yet. A representative said they will share that online on April 1st; but they said this year’s increase will be about 9% on average. That’s far below the increase we saw last year.
In June 2021, Houston City Council voted unanimously to increase water rates every year for the next five years. Then Mayor Sylvester Turner said the extra money was needed to cover major improvements to Houston’s water system that the Environmental Protection Agency said needed work.
The EPA cracked down on Houston because we had too many raw sewage back-ups and spills threatening our water supply and public health.
This legally binding consent decree between the city and the EPA requires the city to make about $2 billion in repairs over the next fifteen years.
The rate increases were supposed to raise $1.84 billion by 2026; but the city’s most recent monthly financial report shows we will hit that mark this year, two years ahead of schedule (see page 16).
RELATED: Public Works has $46.3 million in extra revenue.
So do we still need to have water rate increases?
I asked Mayor Whitmire if he planned to halt further rate increases to assess if they are actually needed.
“We are already under an agreement with the federal government. When I walked into the job, there is a binding agreement if we don’t want penalties with the federal government to address our water and our wastewater system,” said Mayor Whitmire.
‘We have an obligation to go back to the people’
District F council member Tiffany Thomas voted for the increase; but she asked Public Works for an update on work completed and work remaining.
“It’s an incredible amount of money that we are asking Houstonians to pay, and many of them are covering that,” said Thomas. “But we have an obligation to go back to the people and say ‘this is where we’re at. This is the status check.’”
When we asked Public Works for the same question, a spokesperson directed us to this website which shows a monthly report of work completed. They promised to provide the mayor and council a more detailed update, including financial costs within the next few weeks.
It’s information Thomas says elected leaders owe their constituents.
“What I’m hearing is they just want to trust that we’re going get it done. So my question is more so listen, ‘We voted for this three years ago. Where are we at today? How are we getting this done so we can meet the deadline?’” said Thomas.
There are two rate increases each year on April 1st. One increase was passed in 2010 as an annual increase based on the rate of inflation. The second annual increase is the one passed in 2021. Last year, the inflation-based increase was just over 9%. This year, inflation is not up, so water customers will only see one increase tied to the consent decree with the EPA. That increase is reported to be about 9% for most water customers. As soon as Houston Public Works releases its new rate tables, we will show you what the increase looks like for real water customers.
Full City of Houston statement
Houston Public Works remains dedicated to completing the improvements to rehabilitate, replace and upgrade Houston’s wastewater systems as part of the signed consent decree. Our team most recently posted an annual report for fiscal year 2023 on our website which details the status of those projects.
We are working to provide Mayor John Whitmire and all City of Houston council members an update on consent decree projects, including financial costs, within the next few weeks. That information will be provided publicly and posted to the consent decree website. Feel free to submit further questions after this takes place.
Thank you,
Erin Jones, Public information officer, City of Houston
Houston Public Works
The city of Houston’s ordinances require certain automatic annual adjustments to the water and wastewater rates based on the rate of inflation to be applied April 1 of every year. For the upcoming adjustment scheduled for April 1, 2024, there will not be an inflationary increase for the Houston area this year.
Ordinance no. 2021-515 adopted the water & wastewater cost of service rate study, which allows for new annual rates to be applied every year over a five-year period on April 1. This year, the average increase for all customers is 9% total for both water and wastewater. Please note, this does not mean all customers are receiving a 9% increase on their bill. The new percentage for each customer is calculated by customer category and consumption. Customers can calculate their new estimated bill based on consumption by using the bill calculator at Www.houstonwaterbills.org.
As you know, Houston Public Works has been actively working with Mayor Whitmire on his plan to improve the water billing system. More details will be forthcoming once the plan is announced.
Thank you,
Katelynn Burns
Director of communications
City of Houston | Houston Public Works