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City water staff: conservation credits are dwindling; offset fee set at about $36,000 per acre-foot
Summary
The water division explained how the city's water bank and development-water budgets work, confirmed a one-time offset fee near $36,000 per acre-foot, and warned a 198-acre-foot conservation-credit pool could be drawn down in roughly two to three years at current designation rates.
City water staff on Wednesday gave a detailed explanation of the water bank, development-water budgets and the mechanics of offset fees for new development, warning that conservation credits the city uses to subsidize affordable housing and small projects are being consumed rapidly.
Alan Hook, water resource coordinator for the Water Division, said the water bank lets developers either transfer water rights into the city's Buckman Well Field or pay an offset fee for below-threshold projects. "You can either bring in new water rights through what we call the water bank... or they could pay a water offset fee," Hook said.
Hook said staff currently sets the offset fee at roughly $36,000 per acre-foot, a level the city adopted to align with county practice and…
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