Hi Amber, Thanks for your question. Please encourage others to ask us directly so we can share the relevant information.
Regarding your question on future rates, we really do need more information and here is an explanation with an amount given FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
Current commercial metered water rates are $95/month for 40 cubic meters (m3), which works out to $2.55/m3 – IF they use the full amount. Many use less, so may be paying a much higher amount per m3. Usage over 40 m3/month has a higher rate of $4.00/m3.
The 2025 budget gives a cost of $1.71/m3 for water produced. This cost is calculated by water treatment expense divided by total water produced. The treatment cost of water lost to leaks must be built into the billing structure. Whether the water is lost from mains or on private property is the biggest obstacle to defining how much the eventual cost to the consumer per m3 will be. Information from meters will show how much leakage is in the mains and how much on private property as we will be able to compare metered use with total production volume.
A rough estimate can be made using 2025 budget amounts for current cost IF METERING WAS ALREADY IN PLACE:
• If half our water is lost to mains leaks (not on private property), the cost to consumers would be $3.42/m3.
• If quarter of total water produced is lots to mains leaks and the rest of the leaks are on private property, then cost to consumers would be $2.23/m3.
• Alternatively, there could be a rate structure like the current commercial rates.
• Another option is a base fee for all connections to equally share the cost of the leaked water ($428/year if half leaked from mains, $214/year if quarter lost from mains) and water use at cost of production per m3 added to that.
• There may be other billing structures to consider once we learn more.
With less water use from continued leak repair and consumer awareness, there will be a decrease the resources needed for water treatment (cartridges, electricity, chlorine, salt, parts replacements, and labor) so hopefully decrease the production costs; however, all these resources are constantly increasing in price so it is impossible to predict what costs will be in 2 years when metering billing begins.
Customers are billed only what is needed to cover costs. This is not a “cash grab”. Improvements Districts are a very limited form of government that control only the utilities they provide, in Van Anda’s case, potable water and fire protection.