Forecast: Surging water rates

conservation, supplyneeds signal. ong-termtrend of higher costs

ELLIOTT

BLACKBURNAVALANCHE-JOURNAL

For customers shocked by wa-ter rate increases the LubbockCity Council will consider thisThursday, the numbers offer asimple, blunt message.It gets worse.Years spent buying water un-.der the spectre of rationing andshortfalls have come due. Thecity has committed almost halfa billion dollars to secure, re-trieve and treat a far-flung watersupply for its residents.Early forecasts show contin-ued, at times sharp, rate in-creases over the next six yearsto pay for improvements to thewater system.Staff worked last week forstate loans or federal stimulusmoney to trim future increases.Council members searchedfor alternatives to this year'sincrease.But no known program wouldcompletely swallow the increas-es. The collision of two majorcity water efforts

onserva-tion and new supplies

hadcreated a "perfect storm," one

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Story at a glance

The Lubbock City Council on Thursday will take up a five-year package of waterrate ncreases ntended o ensure sufficient cash flow to pay off bonds sold topay for water and sewer system expansion and upgrades.Among he elements of the plan:

n immediate ncrease in he meter fee totaling more than $160 for homeswith oldermeters and more han $270 for homes with larger meters n newer partsof hecity.Customers whose use reaches the second and third tiers would also see an im-mediate 16 percent increase n rates in each tier.

n 2011, the meter rate would increase again, by $97 a year for older homes, and$162 per year for newer homes.

ll water use rates would ncrease by 10 percent per year from 2012 through 2015.Part of what triggered the situation was a highly successful conservationcampaign that started in 2007, which has city officials concerned hat therewouldn't be enough income tooperate the water utility and repay the debt.