By Julie Pendray

Photo, city of San Diego: Acceleration of the time schedule for the Pure Water purification in San Diego is putting pressure on agencies across the region to raise sewer rates. 

April 5, 2017 (San Diego) - Acceleration of the Pure Water project in the city of San Diego is leading to proposed sewer rate hikes in East County of as much as 9 percent per year for the next five years for some customers, depending on wastewater use. Some may start at low as 2.5 percent. Though agencies are still crunching numbers and calculating percentages, several report that both residential and business rates are due to go up on July 1. The increases are mostly due to the purification project going into its construction phase sooner than anticipated, according to local agencies.