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Drip, Drip, Drop

Recent posts and op/eds about the water—monthly billing vs quarterly, why the rate increase, what about tiered usage, where does our water come from and what’s the deal between Manzanita and Wheeler—all made me curious. As is my custom, I’m writing in order to understand. I’ve included the sources I used at the bitter end. Let’s get going.

The last time the city raised the water rates was back in 2014. That council agreed to look at the rates every year to keep up with costs of operation, maintenance, and upgrades but it didn’t happen. It’s been nine years without an increase.

At the June 14, 2023, Council Work Session Director of Public Works, Dan Weitzel presented a water rate study and information about our water. It was clear we needed to catch up with those nine years of inflation and incentivize conservation among heavy users, not because we don’t have the water, but because it costs money to get water to your Slip n Slide.

This isn’t just a Manzanita problem. All over the country there are plenty of cities and towns that have failed to keep critical infrastructure like water systems, power grids, roads and bridges maintained and upgraded so stuff works and is safe. Probably because nobody wants to pay for them. Put things off long enough and you’ve got problems. Do everything on the cheap and you’ll eventually pay in unexpected and unpleasant ways.

We live in Manzanita where the annual rainfall is 81.5 inches according to Climate Data.org, but our water comes from wells on Foss Road. Wheeler has a 99 year lease and a water rights permit to share water with Manzanita as a Joint System. Wheeler pays their share of the costs of operations and maintenance based on the water they use which is about 19%. Water usage is divided between us based on each city’s percentage of the same type of dwelling units in each town. The Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) has two categories of charges. One is for stuff like permits, repairs, and labor, which is charged whether or not Wheeler uses any water, and the other charge is for the actual production of water Wheeler does use. That’s stuff like chlorine, electricity, and labor. They do that math on the last day of February by looking at the master meters.

On July 5, 2023, Manzanita’s Council approved a new rate structure with tiers for water usage that is only $7 more a month. It used to be that our bill was 39.50 for 4,000 gallons of water but the typical usage for a full-time two person household is a little less than 2,000 gallons. If the cap was still 4,000 gallons, the monthly charge would go to about $70 bucks a month to actually pay for the 4,000 gallons according to the utilities budget and the Oregon Association of Water Utilities.

So, if you use 2,000 gallons of water or less, you’re paying 47.56. Since we’re now billed monthly you can see right away when you’re using more water than usual. A neighbor of ours only discovered a major and expensive leak after receiving a big bill they weren’t expecting. I know others may disagree but we like a monthly bill instead of quarterly because we can fit $47.56 into our monthly bills better than we can fit 142.68 quarterly. But that’s us not everyone.

In the summer most people do use more water what with the Slip n Slide and the warm weather. For a few months in the summer the average household uses about 4,000 gallons so if you want to keep the water bill down you’ll need to be intentional and dare I say mindful about how much water you use. There are ways to conserve—using gray water to water plants, not watering in the heat of the day, using a drip system, doing laundry less often, fixing all the wonky faucets, only running the dishwasher when it’s full, bringing back the potty rule that, ‘If it’s yellow, it’s mellow. If it’s brown flush it down!”

If you’re a water hog you’re going to pay more, and you’ll be billed more but isn’t that how all of life is. You’ve got to pay to play, and water may fall from the skies here, but it is not free and it’s not infinite. Nothing in our world is except maybe our good intentions.

For those of us who garden, like a hot bath or a long shower and compulsively fill our bird baths and dachshund’s wading pool (oh my, that’s me) we’ll be billed 9.50 for each 1,000 gallons over 2,000 up to 5,000 gallons; $11 per 1,000 gallons from 5001 to 10,000 gallons and for folks using more than 10,000 gallons it will cost 12.25 per 1,000 gallons and that’s a whole bunch of water.

To make sure we don’t get in the hole again the rates will increase annually based on the consumer price index which will vary every year. Council will review the rates every year and do a water study every three years to keep on top of it.

The past is over, and the future isn’t here yet. We build it by making good choices about how we use what we have, and how we treat each other. If we plan on leaving anything behind when we exit stage left, we need to figure out new ways to live together using our resources wisely no matter how much money we do or don’t have.

Sources:

June 14, 2023, Special Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3jXaUP5zdY&t=36s

ci.manzanita.or.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Work-Session-Packet-061423.pdf

July 5, 2023, Council Meeting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcu2wzbFl6k&t=4s

Manzanita Today Newsletter archives issue July 10, 2023.

Kim Rosenberg loretta.kim.rosenberg@gmail.com