Water rates are going up in Beaverton, effective July 1. (Submitted by City of Beaverton)

Come July 1, water users in the city of Beaverton will see their water bills increase.

The Beaverton City Council, at its Tuesday, June 17 meeting, agreed to raise the rate nearly a dollar per water unit for all customers.

The current rate is $5.90 per unit (about 750 gallons of water), which will increase to $6.87. According to a staff report, a two-person household may use four units of water each month, equating to a bill of $27.48 for water usage. An additional water meter fee is also factored on top of the usage bill.

Rather than a tiered rate that adjusts the cost based on usage, the council opted to increase rates across the board by about 16.5%.

“Either option would have resulted in an increase for customers,” Assistant City Manager Elizabeth Coffey said. “The current uniform rate is $5.90 per water unit – Each water bill has charges for water meters, those have gone up a little bit as well, so customers will see an increase in their water bills.”

The increase is part of a larger 10-year project where the city is making a historic investment into the water system, according to Coffey. 

As an example of its efforts, Beaverton has been actively involved in the Willamette Water Supply Program. The project will allow the city to receive up to five million gallons per day from the Willamette River once the system is operational in 2026. 

“It’s really about working on several large water supply projects that will really increase our seismic resiliency so that water can be available in the case of an emergency,” she said.