Sharp Water Rate Increase in Escondido, CA: Level 2 or 3 Water Emergencies Not-So-Distant Future (NorthCountyTimes)

Jan.17, 2009 in Drought, Public Works, Water Bills, Water Crisis, Water Industry, Water Rates

(Jan. 17, 2009, North County Times)

Despite protests by residents and farmers, water rates in Escondido will rise sharply Feb. 1 for residential customers who use more than 7,000 gallons per month and for virtually all agricultural customers.

City water officials say the increases are necessary to encourage conservation during the state’s worsening drought.

They say the increases will also ensure that the city can cover the costs of providing water to its 26,000 customers.

But opponents say the higher rates are anti-family and anti-farmer, and that they will force people to move away from Escondido, stop taking showers or let their lawns die.

The rates include severe penalties for excessive water use if the drought forces the city to declare Level 2 or Level 3 water emergencies.

The city declared a Level 1 emergency last fall, and city officials have said there is about a 50 percent chance of a Level 2 declaration in 2009.

After a contentious two-hour debate Wednesday, the City Council approved the new rates in a 3-2 vote, with Councilwomen Olga Diaz and Marie Waldron opposed.

Diaz said the increases were too sudden and that the city should have phased them in.

Waldron said she could not support raising rates for agricultural users because those higher rates would just be passed on to consumers at the grocery store.

But the three who approved the rate hikes Wednesday —- Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, Councilman Sam Abed and Councilman Dick Daniels —- said the new rates were a necessary reaction to the drought and excessive water use by some Escondido residents and businesses.

“It seems drastic because we are finally trying to modify behavior with price,” said Pfeiler. “But we need a lifestyle change.”

Using less water has become increasingly crucial to the city as the state’s drought has continued into an eighth consecutive year.

To make matters worse, Southern California officials are bracing for a 30 percent reduction in supplies from Northern California because of a 2007 federal court decision.

The ruling restricts water deliveries from north to south to save an endangered species of minnow called the delta smelt.

Abed said the city needed to take “a leadership role” and start rewarding customers who use less water.

He acknowledged that the increases are severe, but he blamed that on irresponsible decisions in the past.

“My concern is we did not cut enough before, so now we need to do severe cuts,” Abed said.

But Diaz said her family is an example of why the new rates are too extreme.

If the city declares a Level 2 emergency, her family will go from paying about $4 per 1,000 gallons to paying $17 per 1,000 gallons.

At a Level 3 emergency, that rate would increase to $35 per 1,000 gallons.

Diaz said her family is careful with water, but that they use 31,000 gallons per month because they have six people taking showers and they irrigate a relatively small yard.

“This is too drastic an approach to conservation,” said Diaz. “People won’t be able to adjust this quickly.”

Her concerns were echoed by more than a dozen residents and business owners who spoke at Wednesday’s council meeting.

Charles Johnson, a resident of Old Escondido, said there was no way for an ordinary family to use less than 7,000 gallons per month, or even less than 12,000 per month.

“This discriminates against families,” said Johnson, who said his rates could increase 362 percent if the drought worsens.

Johnson said he may have to let all his landscaping die, which would subject him to city fines and damage the aesthetics of Escondido.

Ralph Ginese said the rates would force some young people to start going to school without showers.

He said the city already gives residents enough incentive to conserve, and that increasing the burden on heavy users would be a mistake.

But city water officials said about 55 percent of Escondido residential customers use only 12,000 gallons per month, and that their monthly bills would increase only about 6.6 percent, from $53.44 to $56.96.

Lori Vereker, Escondido’s utilities director, conceded that those numbers would change dramatically in a Level 2 or Level 3 emergency.

But she said the city had little choice, because the Metropolitan Water District was increasing what it charges Escondido for the water.

She said the city’s only reasonable choice during times of extreme scarcity would be to charge higher rates to excessive users.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.