For years, Manteca had water conservation rules in place but most households had no real financial incentive to save water if the amount of water they used monthly stayed in the lower tier.
That lower tier easily accommodated most households given the typical Manteca household uses 16 hundred cubic feet (HCF) of water a month. A HCF unit is the equivalent of 748 gallons.
That ended in 2025 when the current water rate structure was adopted.
And it’s not that the city had any choice.
State water agencies — tasked with stretching out available water supplies need for cities, farming and the environment as well as to stop groundwater over drafting — issued rules that irrigation districts and domestic water systems had to follow whether they are operated by cities, for-profit companies, or homeowner associations.
The rules dealt with volumetric pricing.
In a nutshell, every agency that delivers water and is regulated by the state has to:
*Charge for volumetric water use and not simply have a base rate.
*Eliminate price breaks when users pay less for water when they don’t cross certain thresholds. That effectively makes all water on a HCF basis cost the same which ups the price and is more likely to financially incentivize users to conserve water.
*Have a rate that reflects 100 percent of the cost of obtaining and treating water.
In doing so customers:
*will not be subsiding other customers.
*can save money by conserving water.
*in droughts when water restrictions are in place wouldn’t have to face “emergency” water rate hikes because reduced water sales fail to generate funds needed to maintain and operate the overall water delivery system.
The bills Manteca residents received for July usage during August was the second step of the rate schedule being implemented over four years. Both the base and volumetric rates increased as they did in July 2025.
The big difference was last summer was milder. The hotter temperatures this summer spiked water use for watering lawns, the single largest use of water by residential customers.
Back in 2024, the base water rate for residential customers was $17.15 per month.
The base rate went to $21.23 on May 15, 2025 and then $27.60 on July 1, 2026.
Upcoming base rate hikes are $32.57 on July 1, 2027 and $34.53 on July 1, 2028.
There were three tiers for actual water use:
*Tier 1 for 1 to 20 HCF was $1.03 per HCF.
*Tier 2 for 21-300 HCF was $1.35 per HCF.
*Tier 3 for 300 plus HCF was $2.72 per HCF.
The new rates established a flat rate that started at $2.47 per 100 HCF on May 15, 2025 with that per HCF charge being upped to:
*$3.22 on July 1, 2026.
*$3.80 on July 1, 2027.
*$4.03 on July 1, 2028.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
