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The Daily Tar Heel

Summer Demand Leads to Pricier Water

Prices will increase in the summer, but the Taste of Hope program is designed to help some pay the bills.

The seasonal rate hike, which goes into effect May 1, will raise the cost of water from its present level of $2.90 per 1,000 gallons to $4.08 per 1,000 gallons between May and September. It also will drop the pay rates for water to $2.16 per 1,000 gallons between October and April.

Greg Feller, spokesman for OWASA, says he hopes this measure will help decrease water demand during the summer.

"The greatest conservation need is from May to September," Feller said. "It's when we get the highest peak demand.

"We had one day when the demand was over 15 million gallons, well over the yearly average of about 10 million a day."

Feller said this will be the first seasonal plan OWASA has implemented and that officials are not sure how the measure will specifically affect consumers. "It's hard to know (how it will affect water use) at this point," Feller added. "It will be interesting to see how demand is effected and evaluate that."

The rate hike has caused some concern about the ability of lower-income families to afford the additional costs during those months.

"The economy is suffering, and anyone not earning a living wage will have financial problems," said Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council. "People are running into the problem of deciding which bill to pay."

To counter this need, OWASA sponsors the Taste of Hope program, which gives customers the option to have their bill rounded up to the nearest dollar. The difference is then put into an account and donated to the IFC to disperse among needy consumers.

"For the people who donate, it's less than a dollar a month," Feller said. "There are about 5 percent, or 600 customers, who donate. It comes to about $3,000 a year in funds."

Town Council member Dorothy Verkerk said she is appalled at the small participation of customers.

"I think Taste of Hope is a great idea, but what I'm concerned about is that it has not registered with people," Verkerk said. "Everybody I've talked to since (hearing about the program) has not heard about it."

Feller said that for lower-income families, the seasonal rate plan does not dramatically increase costs but rather apportions them correctly to people who use more water.

He said that according to statistics, low-income housing shows little change in water use patterns during the summer and the winter.

"Essentially, seasonal rates are not just a conservation technique," Feller said. "During peak months, they are more accurate in allocating costs to specifically heavy users.

"The rate is designed to be significantly lower in the winter to offset the higher costs in the summer."

Feller added that people are still encouraged to use water-saving devices such as low-water shower heads and to employ xeriscaping, which is landscaping that reduces the amount of grass area.

"Conservation should be a year-round push."

The City Editor can be reached

at citydesk@unc.edu.

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