San Rafael’s water provider ranked 10th for estimated annual drinking-water bills among 500 large U.S. water systems, a national report published Tuesday, Oct. 6, found.
The Marin Municipal Water District landed among the top 10 costliest water systems surveyed by Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit advocacy group that compared 2025 rates using standardized household consumption. Three other California utilities joined MMWD in that top 10: San Jose Water Co. at No. 1, plus systems in Escondido and Santa Barbara.
Across 91 California water utilities in the study, estimated bills rose 83% on average from 2015 to 2025. The average estimated annual bill among those California utilities was $693 in 2025, above the national study average of $531, the Marin Independent Journal reported.
The report calculated bills based on a household using 60,000 gallons indoors per year, roughly 50 gallons per person per day. It did not include water used for landscaping or wastewater charges.
The report lists Marin Water’s estimated annual bill at $1,294.68 for that consumption level, according to its ranking table.
Why Marin rates run high
The district attributed its costs to geography and age. In a written statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, the 114-year-old district said its system requires more lift stations and storage tanks than typical utilities because of Marin’s hilly terrain and low population density.
MMWD’s board approved a four-year rate schedule in May 2023 to fund water supply alternatives, aging infrastructure and wildfire mitigation on the Mount Tamalpais Watershed. Those increases began July 1, 2023, according to the district’s announcement.
Shaun Horne took over as MMWD general manager Oct. 1, succeeding Ben Horenstein, who led the district for nearly eight years, according to Marin Water’s announcement.
Statewide affordability squeeze
Nationally, water bills climbed at 1.6 times the rate of inflation from 2015 to 2025 and grew 19% faster than U.S. median household income, which the report measured over 2014–2024.
Water was unaffordable for low-income households in 93% of the 500 systems studied under the report’s definition: an estimated bill exceeding 1.5% of income for the lowest-income fifth of households.
“It’s almost a quiet emergency,” Mary Grant, Food & Water Watch’s water policy director, told the Chronicle. “People don’t talk about their water bill. But everyone needs access to water.”
California accounts for 18% of the utilities in the dataset but holds 52% of the 25 priciest, according to Food & Water Watch.
Veto blocks low-income relief
Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 1125 on Sept. 30, a bill by Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-San Fernando Valley, that would have created a statewide Water Rate Assistance Program for low-income residents. In his veto message, Newsom said he could not support a permanent program “without identifying a sustainable, ongoing funding source.”
The National Association of Water Companies disputed the report’s methodology, saying in a statement that comparing rates for the largest 1% of water systems “paints an incomplete and misleading picture.”
The state water board said its lower consumption estimates produce lower bills for some utilities, the Los Angeles Times reported.
MMWD’s board meets the first and third Tuesdays of each month, typically at 5 p.m. Its official calendar lists the next regular meeting for Oct. 20 at 5 p.m.
