Your Water Rates

There are two interesting paradoxes about drinking water costs and rates.

PARADOX 1: Most people understand that life is impossible without water and therefore water has a very high value. Yet, one can purchase drinking water at the tap for a fraction of a cent per gallon.

PARADOX 2: Many people do not think twice about buying bottled water at a price 1,000 to 10,000 times the price charged for tap water. Yet, many of those same customers loudly complain about a modest tap water rate increase to cover necessary investments for regulatory compliance and infrastructure renewal.

Most people don’t often think about the massive underground infrastructure, and treatment and pumping facilities required to deliver safe, potable water to every home and business. Nor do they consider the requirements for electricity, chemicals, parts and equipment, and a trained professional staff. There is, of course, a very real cost involved for all of this.

While maintaining the safety of the water and reliability of the infrastructure is our first priority, we make every effort to keep costs to a minimum.

Beginning in July, 2008 the water rates for City of Bay City customers will increase by approximately 3.5%. The average residential customer uses approximately 7 units of water per month. A unit is 100 cubic feet (ccf) or 748 gallons. The 3.5% increase amounts to an additional 9 cents per ccf, or just 63 cents per month for the average residential customer.

The new rate will be $2.68 per ccf for customers within the City of Bay City. For a City of Bay City customer using 7 ccf per month, the monthly cost will increase from $18.13 to $18.76. Customers outside of Bay City pay different amounts as determined by the respective governmental units that service their areas. While the increase is due in part to normal inflationary factors, a portion of this increase is required for the above mentioned facility rehabilitation. While the Bay City water rate increased by 3.5% over the previous year, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased by 4.2% between May 2007 and May 2008 according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,