WaterWise Rebate Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cConserving water use is the best option to lower bills\u201d, Balliew said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
EPWater also offers tools that allow customers to better understand their monthly costs, including bill breakdown details and a summary of water use history available through account and billing resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meeting discussion<\/p>\n
The Public Service Board, which governs EPWater, voted 5-2 to approve the utility\u2019s budget on Jan. 14, with Mayor Renard Johnson and PSB Secretary-Treasurer Stefani Block Uribarri opposing. The meeting drew dozens of residents seeking to offer public comments on increasing rates. All who wanted to comment were given the opportunity to speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cEl Paso Water is not out to make money; this is not a private entity,\u201d PSB member Dr. Hector Ocaranza said\u00a0 before the vote. \u201cThis is a community-owned organization in which the mission is to provide quality service to everyone. What happened with the current Northeast water outage reflects the importance of investing in infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAffordability has to be part of responsible policy making,\u201d Mayor Johnson said. \u201cI believe we should pursue a phased approach, focus on critical priorities and explore cost controls and alternative funding so we can protect our water system without placing an undue burden on the rate payer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capital investments<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771271948_170_image.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Prompted by the board, Balliew addressed the consequences if rates did not increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe capital program is the primary driver of the budget,\u201d Balliew said. \u201cThe longer we defer capital investments, the more expensive projects become as well as increasing the likelihood of a high-risk event occurring in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
EPWater\u2019s funding priorities include:<\/p>\n
Reliability \u2013 $431 million: Wastewater plant improvements, water and wastewater line replacement and meter replacement programs. Bustamante Plant expansion and rehabilitation is the single largest project in utility history.<\/p>\n
Growth \u2013 $166 million: Water and wastewater extensions for developing areas, such as in Northwest El Paso, new services to developments north of Montana near Fort Bliss and Montana Vista.<\/p>\n
Water supply \u2013 $118 million: Pure Water Center construction, Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant expansion, well drilling and equipping.<\/p>\n
Flood control \u2013 $60 million: Drainage improvements, including the Palisades Project, Hondo Pass and Will Ruth Pond.<\/p>\n
Affordability and customer assistance<\/p>\n
In addition to expanded affordability options designed to benefit low and very low water users, EPWater offers several assistance and conservation programs intended to help customers manage costs. The utility\u2019s AguaCares program<\/a> provides eligible customers facing financial hardships with up to a $250 credit toward their water bill to help avoid service disconnection.\u00a0<\/p>\nAs a public utility, El Paso Water does not profit from rates or fees and continues to emphasize conservation, efficiency, and targeted assistance programs as key tools to help customers control costs while maintaining reliable water, wastewater, and stormwater services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The budget, rates and fees will go into effect March 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emphasizing the importance of reliability, water supply and flood control, the Public Service Board approved El Paso Water\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,5768,3176],"class_list":{"0":"post-167049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-el-paso","9":"tag-el-paso-headlines","10":"tag-el-paso-news","11":"tag-el-paso-water","12":"tag-partner-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}