The Drought is Over, But the Water Costs More

[toymachines]

The Drought is Over, But the Water Costs More
By Doug Curlee, Santee Patch

People are grousing more than ever about their water bills here in our town. We’re not alone. People all over Southern California are confused as to why they are using less water and paying more...

Ninety percent of the water that comes out of our taps comes from the Colorado River and the State Water Project. Amounts vary each day, depending on the weather conditions the previous winter in Northern California. Since we don’t own either source, and those aren’t OUR canals and pipelines, we have to buy it from the people who DO own those canals and pipelines. We buy our water from the San Diego County Water Authority, which buys it from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWDSC), which apparently buys it directly from God...

Carlisle says the end of the drought, if it IS in fact over, isn’t going to mean your water bills are going down—the opposite is more likely the case.

“We may see an uptick in water use from those customers who reduced their water use when we went to mandatory conservation, but those customers impacted by the recession and the higher cost of water are, unfortunately, not going to see much relief. We will be able to increase everyone’s daily water allocation, but wholesale water rates are not going down.”

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[Auggie]

1. If high pricing encourages continued conservation and smart usage

I'm all for it. I hope proceeds can be used to repair/seismically strengthen aging distribution systems and ongoing conservation messaging too.