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Health & Fitness

Sharon's Water Rates: Questions and Answers

The Selectmen have scheduled a water rates hearing for Tuesday, August 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall.

Sharon’s Water Rates: Questions and Answers

 Q: Why are the Selectmen holding a water rates hearing?

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 A: More revenue is needed to maintain the water supply system. The current rates generate about $2.7 million per year, but the costs identified in Sharon’s Water Master Plan1 indicate that at least $3.1 million per year is needed.

 

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Q: What are the current water rates?

A: Every household pays $60 per year in fixed fees, and in addition pays for the amount of water it uses. The current rates are staggered so that households using little water pay at a lower rate than households using much water. See Figure 1 above (click on the first icon at the top of this blog).

 

Q: Can the current staggered rate structure be used to generate the additional revenue needed to maintain the water supply system?

 A: Yes. Adding $1 per thousand gallons (0.1¢ per gallon) to each of the current four rate blocks, or adding $2 per thousand gallons (0.2¢ per gallon) to only the summer rates, would yield enough revenue. Targeting the summer rates would increase the incentive to conserve water in the summer, when it matters most.

 

Q: Why do heavy water users currently pay higher rates?

A: The current staggered rates provide affordable water for essential needs, but charge more for nonessential or inefficient uses such as lawn irrigation, swimming pools, inefficient plumbing fixtures, and unrepaired leaks. This staggered arrangement encourages conservation of water.

 

Q: Does the Water Management Advisory Committee (WMAC) recommend keeping the current staggered rate structure?

 A: No. A majority has recommended a flattened rate structure. See Figure 2 above (click on the second icon at the top of this blog).

 

Q: How would a flattened rate structure affect my water bill?

 A: It depends on how much water you use. Most residents (those who conserve) would pay more, while heavy users would pay considerably less. See Figure 3 above (click on the third icon at the top of this blog).

 

Q: Why do the majority of the WMAC members recommend a flattened rate structure?

 A: They say that the current staggered rate structure is unfair to large households. However, a flattened rate structure would actually increase water bills for a majority of large households that conserve water. Flattened usage rates would also reduce the incentive to use less water for nonessential purposes.

 They also favor increasing the fixed portion of the water bill, since most of the cost of providing water, such as maintenance of wells, pipes, meters, hydrants, and tanks, and labor to operate the system, is fixed. Doing so would moderate fluctuations in Water Department revenues. However, raising fixed fees reduces usage rates, and disproportionately affects those who conserve. Instead, a revenue stabilization fund could be used for this purpose, as recommended by the Massachusetts Water Conservation Standards, without compromising the incentive to conserve provided by usage rates.

 They also say that we only have to pay for extraction and distribution of water–that the water itself is free. However, they ignore the impact of well pumping on Sharon’s streams and wetlands, on drinking water quality, and on carbon emissions. These external costs, though hard to quantify, are real and substantial, and vary with the amount of water pumped.

 

Q: While the current rate structure may encourage people to limit their water consumption, doesn't it also adversely affect larger families? Why are the rates not per capita instead of per household?

 A: Per capita pricing is a good idea in theory. Unfortunately it is not possible to determine with certainty how many people live in each household at any given time, so Town Counsel (the town's attorney) has advised against structuring water rates based on number of occupants in a household.

 

Q: Since many of the costs of providing the community with water are relatively fixed, doesn't conserving water drive water rates higher?

 A: Yes, but your water bill depends on both the rate and the amount of water used. Water bills will be lower in the long run if Sharon conserves water. Conservation reduces the cost of energy and treatment chemicals, and helps avoid major costs such as building and operating a filtration plant for Well #6 and importing water from MWRA.

 

Q: Does Sharon need to conserve water?

 A: Yes. New developments like the Sharon Commons mall increase tax revenues, but also require large amounts of water. Failure to conserve water overall could result in the need to import supplementary MWRA water, which would add millions of dollars to the cost of supplying Sharon with water.

 

Q: Does conservation improve drinking water quality?

 A: Yes. The Water Department tries to avoid pumping Well #6 because it is high in iron and manganese, which discolors the water and stains laundry. When lawn irrigation causes water use to increase in summer, it is sometimes necessary to pump Well #6 to keep up with demand. Conserving water reduces the need to pump Well #6.

 Also, wastewater from thousands of Sharon homes and businesses passes into the ground via septic systems. The less water that municipal wells pump, the more time that soil microbes have to break down unregulated and unmonitored contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, etc.

 

Q: Does well pumping affect the local environment?

 A: Yes. Most of Sharon is in the state’s most impacted groundwater withdrawal category (Groundwater Withdrawal Level 5 on a scale of 1 to 5). The value of local real estate, as well as the quality of life in Sharon, can be affected by the ecological health of the local environment. A mere 1% reduction in the town's property values as a result of negative environmental impacts (or compromised drinking water quality) would equate to a loss of $20 million.

 Q: How do other communities structure their water rates?

 A: Prior to 1990, fewer than 15% of Massachusetts communities used staggered water rate structures. Today, almost two-thirds of them use staggered water rate structures, as recommended by the Massachusetts Water Conservation Standards and Sharon's Water Conservation Plan.

 Q: What do other residents think?

 A: Over 500 residents signed the Sharon Water Rates Petition to keep the current staggered rate structure (see: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/keep-conservation-water-rates/), albeit with higher rates to bring in more funds for maintenance of the system.

 Q: Isn't a flattened rate structure fairer, as some WMAC members suggest? Wouldn't it be fairer to charge a single rate for everyone?

 A: Not when you consider the consequences of excessive water usage. Peak summertime demand drives up the cost of water, because the community must have water at all times, with enough extra capacity to fight fires. Is it fair for excessive water use by a few households to drive up the cost of water for everyone?

 Water quality is affected by peak demand. Is it fair that some people receive discolored water because others are irrigating their lawns?

 Maximum well pumping in summer can lower the water table and dry up Sharon's streams, degrading our local environment. Is that fair to local wildlife?

Pumping and treating water requires energy, and contributes to global warming. In fairness to future generations, Sharon’s water rate policy should continue to strongly encourage conservation.

If you are concerned about Sharon's water rates, and how they affect your water bill, your drinking water quality, your property values, your quality of life, and the sustainability of Sharon's finite water resources, please attend the water rates hearing on Tuesday, August 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Sharon Town Hall.

Paul Lauenstein

781-784-2986

lauenstein@comcast.net

For more information, see The Cost of Water at: www.sharonfoc.org/interest.html.

1 Sharon Water Master Plan, Weston & Sampson, 2010, http://www.townofsharon.net/Public_Documents/SharonMA_DPW/WMPD.pdf

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