City residents conserving water are penalized while residents who use a lot of water are encouraged to use more. This ignores the truth that our rainy weather is temporal and California will again plunge into drought conditions. 

Our rusty, busty pipes will be replaced at a sluggish rate since the proposal either overstates the emergency conditions that produce a hundred pipe ruptures a year or refuses to consider a plan to accelerate replacement.  In the next five years only a nominal percent of pipe is planned to be replaced.

Be assured, however, that the department will be fully funded because your meter rate will double before you drink that first glass of water.

Thus concludes our Ad Hoc Water Rate committee as the proposed water rate program is approved to be presented at the city council meeting on April 2.  Rates are to go into effect on July 1.

Our water bills are lower than many nearby cities.  We have been on a “free ride” for many years as our infrastructure crumbles.  We need to step up and fund the future of our city. Funding this major program must be addressed but the committee’s proposal is not proactive. 

See for yourself; go to our city website, then to Public Works, Water System, Water Study.  

The committee members are your neighbors. Ask them to explain why their proposal is best for our residents in the long term.