Workers replace steel waterline in Arcata, March 2026. File photo..


RELEVANT, NECESSARY CONTEXT

The end is nigh. Arcatians, ready your wallets. Prepare for shorter showers, shallower soaks in the tub, and a yellower lawn. If you can handle it, maybe flush your toilet less too. 

An overly dramatic take on the city of Arcata’s attempt to raise water and wastewater rates, likely to be finalized at the city council meeting this Wednesday? Yeah. Because of the way the city’s rejiggering the rate structure (switching to a monthly flat fee for sewer services, which accounts for about two-thirds of the average bill), City Hall has claimed that the total amount the average single-family home pays will only increase by about $10 every month. 

The council decided in February that they’d avoid jacking up the water rates by 44% during the first year of the altered fees to avoid burdening residents, a decision made at the city’s expense. The council instead went with a plan that spread the adjustments out over a longer period of time, but netted the city less money over a five-year period.

The rates will almost certainly be adopted this Wednesday; the only way they won’t be is if more than half of Arcata’s 6,600 water customers write in a hard-copy objection or complain in-person at the meeting. If the resolution passes, the new rates will be implemented July 1.