Water Rates

Needless to say “WATER RATES ARE UP"

Is there anything that can be done?

yes we can slow there increase but they are going to keep going up.

The reason water rates are going to go up is because water rates are tied to three things.

Those three things are:

1) Cost of Capital

  • Existing debt on Capital Projects must be paid.
  • Triunfo owns the Oak Park Water District and is paying off the debt incurred to purchase it.
  • Triunfo plans to build a new water tank. This project is called the Conifer Water Tank Project.
  • The new Tank is needed so that we have water after a large earthquake.

2) The Cost of Water

  • Oak Park gets 100% of its water from Calleguas Municipal Water District.
  • Calleguas gets 100% of its water from Metropolitan Water District.
  • The cost of water is going up fast for two reasons:
    • The cost of water is increasing due to the demand for it.
    • The infrastructure to import the water is aging and the cost of maintaining this infrastructure is increasing.

3) The cost of operations

  • The costs to run the Triunfo Sanitation District and Oak Park Water Company.
man with bill
 

My Position

  • There is little or nothing can be done about the debt we already owe.
  • To hold down the price of water we should insure that the regional water suppliers are building only the infrastructure needed. And that infrastructure is built at the lowest cost possible. The Board will need to actively put pressure on our suppliers Board of Directors to keep costs low.
  • To insure we are running our operation effectively I suggest a consultant can be retained to review our operations to see if there is any way Triunfo can be more efficient.
  • Keep pressure on Triunfo staff, Oak Park Water Company and Staff to insure the operation is run as efficiently and effectively as possible.