Water rate increase for PCWA wholesale customers

Auburn, Calif – Directors of the Placer County Water Agency on Thursday (Nov. 1) approved 2008 water rate increases for the Agency’s wholesale water customers. Officials said the increases are needed for the agency to meet increased costs of state mandates, replacing aging water delivery infrastructure, and the cost of doing business.

 Directors approved a wholesale treated usage charge adjustment of $0.05 to $0.07 per water tier sold to the City of Lincoln, California American Water Company and five other treated water purveyors.  There were no changes in the basic monthly service charge.  The monthly renewal and replacement bill component increased from $0.50 to $1.04 per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU) and the state and federal mandated program and projects component increased $.055 per EDU.  The net overall adjustment for an average treated wholesale customer is about 7%.

The board approved a 3.25 percent increase in the usage charge for nine large commercial agricultural water users in Zone 5 and similar increases for six untreated water purveyors in Zones 1 and 3.

The adjustments are effective Jan. 1, 2008, except for the City of Lincoln which is March 1, 2008.
Directors will consider rate adjustments for PCWA’s own retail water customers at a public hearing at the Board’s Nov. 15 meeting.

In other business, directors:

• welcomed Fourth District Assemblyman Ted Gaines, who addressed the board on the Legislature’s recent activity on water issues.  Gaines said he relies on local expertise and wants to make sure that lines of communication are open between PCWA and his office.
• heard a presentation on a major maintenance project under way on the Agency’s Middle Fork American River Project, where a vertical surge shaft is being fitted with a steel liner.  The shaft prevents “water hammer” or a surge in pressure when flows stop or change along a 10.5 mile-long tunnel leading to the agency’s hydropower generation plant at Interbay.  Work began in October and is scheduled for completion in late January.
• hosted a public hearing and approved environmental studies and project plans for the repair of a 400-foot stretch of the Boardman Canal near Brookshire Drive in the Rocklin area.  The canal section has been deteriorating and leaking.
• accepted a resolution from the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Suburban Water District.  General Manager Robert S. Roscoe congratulated the agency on its 50th anniversary and said he looked forward to many more years of good working relationships between the agencies.

PCWA board meetings are open to the public.

Information on PCWA board meetings is available through the Clerk to the Board at (530) 823-4850.