CCWD Adopts $516.6M Budget as Chemical Costs Surge and Federal Grant Opens New Funding Pipeline

The Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) board locked in a half-billion-dollar spending plan Tuesday night, absorbing a 47% spike in water treatment chemical costs while positioning the district's landmark Canal Replacement Program to tap an unlikely funding source: the U.S. Department of Defense. The budget and a string of unanimous procurement votes set the district's financial trajectory for the next two years amid tariff uncertainty, tightening regulations, and aging infrastructure.

• $516.6M biennial budget adopted with a 4% first-year increase driven by chemical costs, insurance hikes, and new state fleet mandates

• Water treatment chemicals approved at $7.5M — up 47% from last year — after aluminum sulfate and sulfuric acid prices spiked

• $1.3M federal defense grant secured for geotechnical work at the Military Ocean Terminal Concord, linking canal replacement to military readiness

• $57M in routine procurement authorized over two years, with a new electronic bidding platform and a potential increase in the general manager's spending authority under review

• Dam safety contract extended to $2.4M for Contra Loma and Martinez title transfers from federal to state oversight

The board unanimously adopted Resolution 26-014, approving a $516.6 million biennial budget for fiscal years 2027 and 2028 — a plan shaped less by district ambition than by forces largely outside its control.