Water bill goes through the roof

With about 2 feet of snow in my front yard and an icey glacier covering my street since Christmas, I was shocked to see my Boulder water bill shoot through the roof!

My water bill for January, the first under a new Boulder scheme to raise water rates under the guise of a household water "budget" to encourage conservation, rose nearly 48 percent from January 2006.

If my bill is an example of what other residents will see when they open their new statement, the city utilities department better be prepared for a meltdown of their phone system from angry residents.

The city has decided we should all now have a water "budget," in a year where no doubt heavy snows will fill Colorado reservoirs and spring runoff will probably be better described as flooding.

I live with my girlfriend in a simple ranch home with no kids. I'm pretty certain I was not watering my frozen lawn at all this winter. However, I exceeded my water budget of 9,000 gallons, sending me into much higher rates of $2.50 and $5 for my over-allotment. The basic rate for your first 6,000 gallons is $1.88.

Who came up with these numbers anyway? We didn't have visitors for Christmas -- you know, the kind that like to take those long hot showers? We fill our dishwasher up until it's packed so we only turn it on maybe first a day. And our laundry for two people can't be that unusual.

We will confess to a few warm baths through those zero degree nights, but as much as we've thought about it, we never bought a hot tub. Pity the poor people who soak in outdoor tubs, filling them up with hundreds of gallons and sending them into over-allotment hell.

If this rate increase follows through for the entire year, I will be writing checks for a total increase of $400 or more to the city. Is it possible all that extra money could be used to send a single snowplow down my street? I doubt it.

So not only are residents going to be socked with higher bills for heat in this freezing winter, we're now getting stuck with a water billing system socking it to our wallets again.

I am a believer in conservation and recycling. Our front yard won a neighborhood award a while back for its Xeriscape garden design. I have a little grass in my back yard for my dog to lay around on, but we keep the timer on the watering system set very low.

I'm hoping someone just got the numbers wrong here. And like hundreds, maybe thousands of residents, I'll be giving a little ringie-dingie to Ned Williams at the city's utilities office to see what is up.

There is a few more days left for public comment. My guess is there will be lots of comment coming now. Maybe even a flood!

Comments

[Dan Greenberg]

Just came across this post while searching for something else. All I can tell you is that I've got a family of four living on about a 1/4 acre plot. We haven't come close to 9,000 gal/month, and we're well below our water budget. That's without taking any special measures to conserve. Maybe you've got a leak somewhere that you don't know about?

[Buzz Kaelin]

Jerry: It sounds like Boulder is copying the Chinese state. Good Luck exposing the "Peoples Republic of Boudler" Water plot.
Buzz