How To Evolve With Rising Water Prices
With each new regulation that is passed and source of funding that’s stretched, water utilities are being asked to do more with less. While consumers demand plentiful, convenient, and remarkably clean water in their homes, they bristle at the idea of increased costs for the service. Unfortunately, continued increases in water pricing are all but inevitable.
In its annual survey of 30 major U.S. cities, Circle of Blue, a collective of journalists and scientists reporting on the condition of the world’s natural resources, found that the price of water rose 5 percent last year and that the average price of water has risen 48 percent since 2010.
The survey was conducted by Brett Walton, a Circle of Blue reporter who asked utilities in each city for usage data and calculated the monthly cost of water in each city for three levels of consumption: 6,000 gallons per month, 12,000 gallons per month, and 18,000 gallons per month.
A combination of trends is converging at this moment to drive water prices up, Walton said, none of which promise to recede in the near future.
“There are a number of factors contributing to the rising cost of water,” said Walton. “The need to repair old pipes, the need to address regulatory requirements, and, in some cases, the need to expand systems to accommodate growing populations or to build new facilities.”
These changes are being called for at a time when climate change has affected the abundance of water and technologies are requiring less of it to do more. To keep up, utilities have been forced to adapt.
Circle of Blue’s survey found that many are restructuring rates as a response. For instance, the municipality for Fort Worth, TX, altered its block rate system to cover the first 600 cubic feet of consumed water in its lowest price tier, down from 800 cubic feet. This was done to adapt to better conservation by consumers, according to Circle of Blue.
“Utilities are expanding the range of services they offer and they are becoming more efficient,” said Walton. “Some, like DC Water, are pulling nutrients out of the wastewater and selling them as fertilizer. Others, like Portland, OR, are generating hydropower from flowing water by installing small turbines in city pipes. An ongoing challenge is responding to declining water sales as residents use less water and to shifts in the weather, both of which cut revenue. One way to do this is to reexamine the water rate structure and gain more revenue from fixed charges that do not fluctuate with water use.”
Of course, restructuring rates to ensure enough revenue is coming in may not sit well with the public. While ratepayers are being asked to conserve water, it needs to be made clear to them that this cannot lead to cuts in funding for water services.
Walton points to a national Value of Water Coalition survey in which 71 percent of respondents acknowledged the importance of modernizing water infrastructure and a majority indicated a willingness to pay more for water after learning about the system’s needs.
“One of the things we have to do is educate people about the challenges that their water systems are dealing with right now,” said Abigail Gardner, communications director for the Value of Water Coalition. “Many utilities need to raise rates because these challenges come with price tags… Definitely the majority of Americans are open to the idea that these challenges require higher rates from what we could tell from our survey.”
Many of the utilities grappling with rate increases have reached out to their communities to positive effect.
“A little education goes a long way,” Walton said. “Water utilities have been more active in public education because of this, sending out mascots to public events and operating Twitter and Facebook accounts. There will always be angry people at city council or board meetings when a rate increase is announced, but most people will understand if the needs are explained and the money is not wasted.”
With rates set to keep rising, interaction with the public will have to follow suit.