Price of water rises amid conservation

Orange County residents have been green in their water usage, but their water bills may leave them blue.

The average water bill in the county has nearly doubled since 2000, and with a proposed fee increase of 9.25 percent that could go in effect in October, it could go up even more.

Although the number of accounts for Orange Water and Sewer Authority — the county’s public water utility — has nearly doubled since 1985, water usage for 2010 is only projected to be 20 percent more than 1985 levels.

“It says a lot about the way we live in Chapel Hill and the way we respect the environment,” said Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.

OWASA customers used an average of 5 million gallons per day in 1985. Water usage climbed steadily for the next 15 years, reaching 9 million gallons before a drought in 2001 forced conservation.

OWASA has estimated customer sales will be an average of just more than 6 million gallons per day for 2010.

Greg Feller, OWASA’s public affairs administrator, said customer awareness has helped reduce water use despite an increase in the number of customers.

Decreased water use also means decreased revenues for OWASA. That decrease is one of the reasons for the proposed fee increase.

“Two key factors in our rate increases in recent years have been reduced demand for drinking water and the need to renew, replace and improve our ‘infrastructure’,” Feller stated in an e-mail.

The pre-recession growth in the county, which provided OWASA with revenue from connecting new properties to the county’s infrastructure, has also fallen off.

“I don’t anticipate that there will be rapid growth in the OWASA service district,” said Adam Klein, vice president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce. He said the increased fees are part of the “conundrum of conservation.”

The utility is raising its rates along with a budget increase of 1.7 percent and cutting three employee positions from payroll.

The proposed budget for the 2011 fiscal year takes into account an 8 percent increase in employee health care costs and a 32 percent increase in required employee contributions to the Local Government Employees’ Retirement System.

A 2.5 percent increase in merit pay for employees is proposed in OWASA budget.

There will be a public hearing May 25 at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce to discuss the proposed budget.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.