The San Antonio Water System's 2025 budget calls for raising rates on chilled water and recycled water, but no changes for standard water and sewer services.
Most San Antonio Water System customers will not see rate increases for water and wastewater services next year, utility officials say, though the city and some large businesses will see higher rates for chilled and recycled water.
The city-owned utility expects to bring in about $1.08 billion in revenue next year, and to spend a record amount on capital improvement projects, including more than $260 million on replacing and repairing water mains to reduce water loss. That would be an increase in revenue over this year, due in part to customer growth and to higher impact fees, which are paid by developers and were raised this summer. In a presentation to the SAWS board of trustees, Chief Financial Officer Doug Evanson said SAWS is proposing to add 78 new jobs in 2025, including 39 in water loss reduction and 18 in construction management. READ MORE: How SAWS is working to fix its 21 billion-gallon water loss problem SAWS plans a “non-revenue water” initiative, a term that refers to water that is lost from leaks, breaks, theft and other issues. In 2023, the utility lost 21 billion gallons, more than the amount brought in from the Vista Ridge pipeline. The utility plans to add four leak repair maintenance crews and two main replacement crews, and is budgeting an additional $1.5 million for other expenses related to water leaks and repairs. The $264.5 million for water main work is part of a $613.1 million capital improvements plan for next year — the first time that number has exceeded $600 million, Evanson said. From 2025 through 2029, SAWS expects to spend $3.1 billion on capital projects, he said. The plan calls for spending just under $90 million for water production improvements, including generators and resiliency measures, and $81.4 million on new and replacement sewer mains. SAWS also plans to spend about $78 million on wastewater treatment projects and $6.5 million on chilled water improvements. That chilled water system carries cold water to customers downtown and at Port San Antonio, including hotels, Boeing and Standard Aero, who use it for cooling. The city is the largest customer in the downtown system, using the chilled water to cool the Alamodome and Convention Center. READ MORE: After 11 years and $1 billion, SAWS says sewer system is better than ever Those customers will see a 10% rate hike next year. SAWS has raised chilled water rates every year since 2022, and will continue to raise those annually through 2027. Prior to 2022, the rates hadn't increased since 2005, leaving the chilled water system in need of upgrades, according to SAWS officials. Recycled water customers will also see a 10% increase as part of a similar five-year adjustment. SAWS sells treated wastewater to large-scale customers including Microsoft, which uses it for cooling data centers, and Toyota, which uses it in manufacturing. The largest recycled water customer is the city, which uses hundreds of gallons of the treated effluent to maintain flow in the San Antonio River. In addition to capital projects, the SAWS draft budget includes raising employee pay. The utility's entry level pay would increase from $18.25 per hour to $19, with increases at the next to pay grades to avoid compression. SAWS transfers 4% of its operating revenues to the city each year; in 2025 that's projected to be $35.7 million, up from $34.9 million in the 2024 budget. The utility is scheduled to hold another briefing on the budget in September and public hearing in October, Evanson said, before the board votes on the budget in November.
Boeing Toyota Microsoft Doug Evanson Port San Antonio Vista Ridge San Antonio River Convention Center Alamodome Standard Aero
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