The Bay Delta Conservation Plan is affordable to almost all Los Angeles households under a wide array of cost and water demand scenarios, concludes the city’s Office of Public Accountability in a report to Councilmember Felipe Fuentes.
The report, prepared by Ratepayer Advocate Frederick Pickel and Utility Rate and Policy Specialist Grant Hoag, determined the cost to City households to be anywhere from $1.00 to $6.08 per month, with $2.13 being most likely. This amount includes the bond costs for ecosystem restoration, the report notes.
The report does not attempt to place a value on the benefits of restoring the Delta’s ecosystem, nor the cost effectiveness of the BDCP as opposed to other alternative actions. The report uses a “cost follows the water” concept and does not evaluate the notion that costs be allocated based on the benefits of increased supply reliability; urban customers would presumably pay more under such a scenario.
The report notes that selective DWP and City policies can minimize these costs, such as maximizing projects that increase local supplies to reduce reliance on imported water, minimizing the size of water bond programs that do not directly benefit the City or SWP operations, or using a lower-cost BDCP alternative to the tunnels.
Read the report here: OPA BDCP Report
