How San Jose could become the first major California city with water budgets and drought penalties
Highlighting the deepening drought, San Jose could soon become the largest city in California where residents are given monthly allotments of water with financial penalties for exceeding them. San Jose Water Company, a private utility that provides water to 1 million people in and around San Jose, has filed a plan with state regulators that would require each of its residential customers to cut monthly water use by 15% from their 2019 levels and pay $7.13 in surcharges for every unit of water they use above that amount. The rules are a possible precursor for similar limits in other communities across the state, experts said.
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