Commitment to a sustainable future

The City of Santa Ana is dedicated to providing safe and reliable water and sewer services to the community. We meet the challenges of conservation, environmental compliance and sustainability while serving the needs of our water and sewer users. Both of these utility systems are essential to protecting public health and the environment.
To ensure our rates reflect the true cost of providing service, the City of Santa Ana evaluates pricing for water and sewer service every five years using an independent financial expert. By matching cost to service, we are able to provide the lowest possible rates to our customers while maintaining the City’s financial health.
The 2019 Water, Recycled Water and Sewer Rate Study revealed several factors supporting a change in the water and sewer rates:
  • The cost of purchasing imported water and groundwater has increased.
  • Aging pumps, pipes and equipment require critical repair and replacement.
  • Projected water and sewer revenue did not support ongoing maintenance and infrastructure re-investment.
  • The planning period from the last rate study change ended in June 2019 and new expenses needed to be addressed.

Did you know?

As a public service provider, the City of Santa Ana can only charge its customers for the costs associated with providing water, recycled water and sewer services. The City cannot earn a profit from providing these services.

Ensuring reliable infrastructure systems

The City of Santa Ana works hard to ensure resilient and sustainable delivery systems for water, recycled water and sewer services, and we are proud that our compliance with state and federal regulations continues to be exemplary. Both our water and wastewater systems have significant capital investment needs, such as drilling new wells and rehabilitating existing wells, pump stations and tanks.

Meeting the rising costs of providing service

The cost to provide water, recycled water and sewer services is increasing, including wholesale water prices, fuel and other factors. The rate study looked at all of these factors, coupled with infrastructure needs, to determine a rate structure that best supports the future water, recycled water and sewer needs of the community.