High water usage could mean higher fees in Columbia

Columbia Water and Light staff is proposing a new way to encourage water conservation and cover increased costs in its 2019 budget.

A three-tiered system would target those who use more than the recommended amount of water during the summer.

From June through September, water usage between 0 and 200 cubic feet would cost $2.79.

“The first tier is the basic cleaning, eating and essential living type of usage,” said Assistant W&L Director Ryan Williams.

Any usage between 200 and 800 cubic feet would cost $3.91. Williams said this is still okay because the average usage is about 500 cubic feet per month.

The third tier is when it gets into “discretionary” usage, which would be the use of water beyond the basic or average needs. This could include using more water to irrigate plants during the dry and hot summer months. Anything over 800 cubic feet would cost $4.89 per cubic feet.

The decision to only enforce the tier during the summer comes from recommendations given by the Columbia city council and the Water and Light Advisory board, which both asked staff to target that discretionary use.

“The more water we have to produce, the larger the system we have to have,” said Wililams. “So in order to postpone any expansions to our existing treatment process, the city council and advisory board felt one of the important things to target was discretionary outdoor use.”

Water usage in Columbia explodes over the summer, and comes dangerously close to reaching the water treatment plant’s capacity of 24 million gallons per day.

Throughout the rest of the year, all water users would pay a flat rate of $2.79.

The third tier is also expected to bring in about $350,000 in revenue from those four months it’s activated. Williams said they would use that revenue to cover a 1 percent projected increase in the department’s operating costs, which comes out to around $270,000 total.

The new system proposal was included in the budget presentation council members got on Monday. Several had questions, and Ward 5 Councilman Matt Pitzer had concerns about all the “moving parts.”

He referenced the tiered system and the 1 percent increase in operating costs, but also brought up the newly voter-approved water bond. The bond raises rates for water customers by 3 percent in each of the next three years, and by 2 percent in 2022.

“I would like to see them laid out a little bit better, so we really understand what’s going on here,” he said. “I think we’re talking about some pretty significant changes, and I don’t even fully understand them.”

City Council has to sign off on the proposed new tiered structure, and could vote on it as soon as next week.

Commercial water use is not included in this new system.