LeakBird

25% Water Rate Increase for Arizona Water Company Customers (TriValleyCentral)

Ben — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:55:32 +0000

(June 2, 2009, TriValleyCentral) The company, which in Pinal County serves Casa Grande, Coolidge, Arizona City, Stanfield and other areas, has asked the Arizona Corporation Commission for approval to raise its general rates for a base revenue growth of about 35 percent. The request was filed last year and a hearing is scheduled for Aug. 31 [...] Related posts:

New Five Tiered Water Rate System for Cave Creek, Arizona: 100% Water Rate Increase Scheduled; Water Bills to Go from $40 to $77!!!; Family of 4 Expects $200 Water Bill to Go to $430!!! (AZCentral) (Feb. 17, 2009, AZCentral) Cave Creek will hear comments Tuesday...
Carefree, Arizona Customer Takes Out Petitions for Referendum to Reverse Scheduled Water Rate Hike, which would DOUBLE or TRIPLE the Rates on Some of the 9,000 Customers Affected (AZCentral) (March 7, 2009, AZCentral) A Carefree resident is challenging Cave...
Another Double-Digit Water Rate Increase for New York City This Year, after 14.5% 2008 Increase (Reuters) (March 30, 2009, Reuters) New York City Comptroller William Thompson...

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Baltimore Water Rates to Rise 9%: System Leaks 20% of Water Per Day!!! (WBALTV)

Ben — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:51:21 +0000

(June 3, 2009, WBALTV Channel 11) The Baltimore City Board of Estimates voted Wednesday on a 9 percent increase to water and sewer rates, meaning the average family of four will pay about $72 more per year. The system leaks 20 percent of its water each day, which is enough to fill the World Trade Center in [...] Related posts:

Fairmont, West Virginia Water Rates to Rise 49% (TimesWestVirginian) (March 4, 2009, The Times West Virginian) The West Virginia...
Water Rates to Rise 16% NEXT MONTH in Plano, Texas: 5th Round of Water Hikes Since 2006!!!; Monthly Water Bill from $65 to $76!!! (DallasMorningNews) (Feb. 18, 2009, The Dallas Morning News) Plano water and...
Crumbling Water Infrastructure in Baltimore: All Municipal Buildings and Some Business Closed after Water Main Break (WJZ) (April 29, 2009, WJZ) The effects of a destructive water...

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$21,600.00 Water Bill has Florida Couple Up in Arms (UPI)

Ben — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:23:02 +0000

(June 2, 2009, UPI.com) A Tampa, Fla., couple said it took them several months to resolve the issue of a monthly water bill for more than $21,000. Ralph and Diana Salgado said their water bill usually falls between $21 and $110 each month, but their July 2008 bill from the Tampa Water Department totaled $21,600, indicating that [...] Related posts:

Turning on Lawn Sprinkler Now Criminal in Tampa Bay, Florida (TampaBayOnline) (March 29, 2009, Tampa Bay Online) On Friday, turning on...
Tampa Bay, Florida Reservoir Just about Out of Water (Treehugger) (March 21, 2009, Treehugger) Last summer I posted on Tampa...
Pay Your $1100 Water Bill, We’re Not Going to Give You a Break, Florida Commissioner Tells Homeowner (Dec. 17, 2008, WBBH-TV) A homeowner took his water woes...

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LA Water Works Offers Cash for Replacing Your Lawn with Drought-Resistant Plants (LATimes)

Ben — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:20:25 +0000

(June 2, 2009, The Los Angeles Times) Faced with another year of drought, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering customers a cash incentive to replace their grass lawns with drought-tolerant plants. The Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program will credit single-family residential customers $1 for each square foot of turf removed and [...] Related posts:

Drought-Resistant Plants NOT Allowed by California Homeowner Associations (MercuryNews) (April 16, 2009, The Mercury News) John Gioia’s homeowner association...
Drought-Resistant Crops to Be All the Rage by 2012; and Monsanto to Own Market (DesMoinesRegister) (Jan. 11, 2009, Des Moines Register) Monsanto said last week...
California Drought Converts Water to Cash Crop (WallStreetJournal) (March 24, 2009, The Wall Street Journal) As Don Bransford...

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Water Rates to Jump 17.9% in Portland, Oregon?; Sewer 6.5% (KGWChannel8)

Ben — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:14:22 +0000

(May 20, 2009, KGW Channel 8) Proposals to increase water and sewer rates were introduced at Wednesday’s meeting of the Portland City Council. Under the proposal, water rates would increase 17.9 percent, or about $2.76 per month for the average household. Sewer rates would increase 6.5 percent, or about $3.02 [...] Related posts:

Water Rates to Rise 25% (Sewer Rates, 30%) in Quincy, Massachusetts! (QuincyHeraldWhig) (April 14, 2009, The Quincy Herald Whig) Quincy aldermen heard...
Increase in sewer, water fees approved in Carlsbad, CA (Dec. 3, 2008, The San Diego Tribune) The council increased...
Council to vote on water, sewer rates in San Diego (Nov. 29, 2008, The San Diego Tribune) The City Council...

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Water Deliveries in California Increased 40%! (LATimes)

Ben — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:12:07 +0000

(May 21, 2009, The Los Angeles Times) The Department of Water Resources announced Wednesday that it would give State Water Project contractors 40% of what they requested. Although that figure remains low, it is far more than earlier allocation numbers, which started at 15% and then rose to 20% and 30%. “Early May snow and rain improved [...] Related posts:

California Municipal Water Contractors can Count on 50% of Water Deliveries in 2009, Says ACWA (MSNBC) (Feb. 20, 2009, MSNBC) Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA)...
RED ALERT: (Southern) California Drought: 44% TIER TWO BLOCK RATE INCREASE Due to 15% Fall in Los Angeles Water Use by June 1; Feb-March Storms Allow Water Agencies to Deliver 5% More Water Than Expected, Says Lester Snow; Sierra Snowpack IMPROVES to 86%!; Reservoir Storage 75%; Statewide Precipitation @ Normal (LosAngelesTimes) (March 19, 2009, The Los Angeles Times) State officials announced...
California Drought Deception Emergency?: Water Levels Look Acceptable, but Overpopulation and Fragile Delta Looming could Exacerbate Problem (SanFranciscoChronicle) (March 5, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s...

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Water Needs Electricity Needs Water (NYTimes)

Ben — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:10:34 +0000

(May 21, 2009, The New York Times) It has long been an axiom of infrastructure planning that it takes a lot of water to make electricity, and a lot of electricity to make water. Each day, for example, the nation’s thermoelectric power plants (90 percent of all power plants in the United States), draw 136 billion gallons [...] Related posts:

San Diego Getting $320M Desalination Plant! (LosAngelesTimes) (May 13, 2009, The Los Angeles Times) Reporting from San...
Energy-Efficient Water Purification: Desalination and Reuse ONLY Options for Increasing Water Supply (ScienceBlog) (Jan. 14, 2009, Science Blog) Water and energy are two...
While Water is Essential, The Water Grid is Not: Water Related Applications Use 19% of Total Electricity, 32% of Natural Gas in California Alone!!! (Thomas Christiansen, EnergyBulletin) (Feb. 26, 2009, EnergyBulletin) Off-grid living can be challenging …...

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Wireless Sensors Save Water on Golf Courses (NYTimes)

Ben — Fri, 22 May 2009 02:09:00 +0000

(May 20, 2009, The New York Times) In seven years of overseeing every root and blade of grass on the grounds at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., Matt Shaffer has built a reputation on innovation and conservation. An early advocate of course playability over aesthetics, he long lived by the maxim “the drier, the [...] Related posts:

New York City to Install 826,000 Wireless Water Meters by 2011 (Engagdet) (March 25, 2009, Engadget) On the environmental tip, Mayor Bloomberg...
IBM Jumpstarts Water Management Business (NewYorkTimes) (March 13, 2009, The New York Times) Give I.B.M. credit...
Water Management Startup HydroPoint, Creator of WeatherTrak “Irrigation-Control System“, Seeks $4 – 8Mn in Capital: Already Raised $36Mn+; YOY Revenue Growth Over 70%!!! (Earth2Tech) (Feb. 16, 2009, Earth2Tech) Water management company HydroPoint Data...

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Rising Water Costs Take Toll on Rentals (ChicagoDailyHerald)

Ben — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:54:37 +0000

(May 16, 2009, The Chicago Daily Herald) Q. I have been renting a duplex unit for more than three years. A week ago, my landlord told me the water bills have been getting very high and that she was thinking about charging me for water. My lease states that I am not responsible for water unless [...] Related posts:

San Francisco Water Rates, Running Toilets and Property Management: Summary of My June 2008 Chat with The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) (LeakBird) I’ve written about how to calculate your San Francisco water...
The Running Toilet Book: Chapter 5 — No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (LeakBird) There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Milton Friedman...
The Water Billing Nightmare: It’s All about the Lease! (Janet Portman, AmericanApartmentOwnersAssocation) (May, 2009, Janet Portman, American Apartment Owners Assocation) Q: I’ve...

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The Water Billing Nightmare: It’s All about the Lease! (Janet Portman, AmericanApartmentOwnersAssocation)

Ben — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:40:17 +0000

(May, 2009, Janet Portman, American Apartment Owners Assocation) Q: I’ve lived in a 40-unit apartment building for the last five years. Until now, I have paid for water, as required by my lease, based on a submetered water system. Recently, the landlord said the meters are broken and she has decided not to fix them, claiming [...] Related posts:

Water Back-Billing Nightmare in Atlanta, After Failure to Add Rate Hike (AtlantaJournalConstitution) (Jan. 9, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) First, the city of Atlanta...
Ten Facts Regarding Water Metering, Water Billing and Water Efficiency for New York Landlords and Property Managers (LeakBird) I recently came across an insightful 2006 document (pdf)...
Tenant-Landlord Water Conservation Incentive Problems: Landlords Avoid Water Submetering Because of Cost of Installation; but Tenants who Face Flat Water Fees or Who Are NOT Submetered have No Incentive to Conserve Water (Aguanomics) (Feb. 19, 2009, Aguanomics) CL sent in this: I recently...

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San Diego Getting $320M Desalination Plant! (LosAngelesTimes)

Ben — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:17:03 +0000

(May 13, 2009, The Los Angeles Times) Reporting from San Diego — A plan by a private company to build a $320-million desalination plant along the coast of northern San Diego County was unanimously approved Wednesday by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. Proponents say the plan could provide more than 56,000 acre-feet of drinkable [...] Related posts:

Saudia Arabian Water: Huta Marine Awarded $52M Water Contract to Build Reverse Osmosis Water Plant (ArabianBusiness) (Jan. 19, 2009, Arabian Business) Saudi-based Huta Marine has been...
Desalination Undermines Conservation: Will Marin, California Desalinate Water from San Rafael Bay for $115M?; Option Still Open! (MarinIndependentJournal) (Feb. 4, 2009, Marin Independent Journal) The Marin Municipal Water...
Santa Cruz desalination pilot plant meeting expectations (Nov. 9, 2008, San Jose-Mercury News) Six months into the...

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Who’s Calling to Regulate California’s Groundwater? Regulators? (NewYorkTimes)

Ben — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:15:06 +0000

(May 13, 2009, The New York Times) For the third year in a row, Mark Watte plans to rely on the aquifer beneath his family farm for three-quarters of the water he needs to keep his cotton, corn and alfalfa growing, his young pistachio trees healthy and his 900 dairy cows cool. That is 50 percent more [...] Related posts:

Unregulated Groundwater in California State’s Biggest Water Policy Problem, Says David Zetland: How Price or Market Water Sans Knowledge of Supply and Demand? (Aguanomics) (Feb. 24, 2009, Aguanomics) The battle is getting started: The...
California Groundwater Needs to Be Metered Statewide: Only Markets will Control the Need to Use Less Water (Aguanomics) (Jan. 20, 2009, Aguanomics) As promised in the comments to...
Drought Declaration Ambiguity: California Locals Concerned over Groundwater Control, Schwarzenegger’s Meaning in “Expedited Water Transfers” (MSNBC) (Feb. 28, 2009, MSNBC) Butte County water officials have concerns...

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Water Texas’ Most Precious Resource, Says Businessman Tom Hicks, Who Uses 10M Gallons Per Year (DallasObserver)

Ben — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:12:35 +0000

(May 14, 2009, The Dallas Observer) As mentioned Monday, KERA-FM (90.1) is running throughout this week a series of stories about where Dallas gets its water and how we use it. Which brings us to today’s contribution from B.J. Austin concerning water consumption. Says the story, the average Dallas homeowner is billed for 100,000 gallons used [...] Related posts:

Texas’ Increasing Growth and The Pricelessness of Water: East Texas to Become Wetter, West Texas Drier (StarTelegram) (Feb. 11, 2009, The Star-Telegram) As Texas’ population explodes, new...
Texas Water Development Market $173b (Oct. 10, 2008, Austin Business Journal) National infrastructure firm PBS&J...
Drought to Persist, Intensify in North Texas (DallasMorningNews) (Feb. 8, 2009, The Dallas Morning News) Scant rainfall. Shrinking...

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California Too Broke to Fund Water Transfers Needed in Drought (Jim Downing, SacramentoBee)

Ben — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:18:57 +0000

(May 12, 2009, Jim Downing, The Sacramento Bee) As another summer of drought approaches, hundreds of thousands of acres of San Joaquin Valley farmland are expected to be fallowed, and much of urban California faces 20 percent water cutbacks. But in the Sacramento Valley, rice farmers have been busy for weeks spreading water 6 inches deep over [...] Related posts:

California Drought Water Bank but Very Little Water Supply to Sell: $275.00 Per Acre Foot of Water (OrovilleMercuryRegister) (March 14, 2009, The Oroville Mercury-Register) The state is shopping...
California Drought Converts Water to Cash Crop (WallStreetJournal) (March 24, 2009, The Wall Street Journal) As Don Bransford...
Drought Declaration Ambiguity: California Locals Concerned over Groundwater Control, Schwarzenegger’s Meaning in “Expedited Water Transfers” (MSNBC) (Feb. 28, 2009, MSNBC) Butte County water officials have concerns...

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5% Water Rate Increase on Tap for Charlotte, North Carolina (CharlotteObserver)

Ben — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:11:37 +0000

(May 12, 2009, The Charlotte Observer) City Manager Curt Walton recommended a $1.87 billion budget Monday that includes an increase in water rates but not property taxes. Water users will see $2.37 a month added to the average $45.92 water bill – a 5.2 percent increase. Walton’s proposed budget puts more money toward street resurfacing, but freezes [...] Related posts:

Water Conservation Gone Mainstream : While Rivers Temporarily Overflow, Groundwater Permanently Runs Dry In Charlotte (CharlotteObserver) (Jan. 7, 2009, Charlotte Observer) The receding drought in Charlotte...
Drought Surcharge in Charlotte, North Carolina: Conserve Water, Still Pay More at the Water Pump; Heavy Users Vs. “Lifeline” Users (MSNBC) (Feb. 10, 2009, MSNBC) CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It is because...
Another Double-Digit Water Rate Increase for New York City This Year, after 14.5% 2008 Increase (Reuters) (March 30, 2009, Reuters) New York City Comptroller William Thompson...

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California Water Crisis: Water Meters, Mendota Profile and Ag’s Response to Drought (ClimateWatch, NPR)

Ben — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:08:51 +0000

(May 1, 2009, ClimateWatch, NPR) NPR’s Morning Edition launched an “occasional series” on California’s water woes this morning. Veteran correspondent John McChesney begins with the impact on agriculture in the Central Valley’s Westlands Water District, the nation’s “biggest irrigated region.” KQED’s Central Valley Bureau Chief and Climate Watch contributor Sasha Khokha will have three stories in the [...] Related posts:

RED ALERT: $20Bn California Ag Industry Hit Hard by Drought: Farmers Using Water Rights as Collateral; 9,000 of 11,000 Acres of Crops Sidelined at Harris Farms; Unemployment 35% in Mendota (15%+ in Fresno); Severest Drought North Cusp of Sacramento (Jim Carlton, WallStreetJournal) (Feb. 10, 2009, The Wall Street Journal) MENDOTA, Calif. —...
Climage Change and Response to California Drought: Central Valley to Lose 40k Jobs, $1.5Bn Income; Supplies 50% of US Food…and Only 15% of Water to Be Delivered! (SanFranciscoChronicle) (Feb. 11, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle) California’s unfolding drought...
Water Mandate: All California Cities Begin Volume-Based Billing Where Meters are Installed by Jan. 1, 2010 (ModestoBee) (Jan. 12, 2009, The Modesto Bee) From his desk in...

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Water Shortages Renew Renewables Industry (Meaghan Daly, AlterNet)

Ben — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:05:26 +0000

(May 11, 2009, Meaghan Daly, AlterNet) Most of the time, when you hear about environmentalists decrying the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, their objections are in relation to localized pollution or carbon dioxide emissions. Less frequently do you hear about protests related to the vast amounts of water that are needed to keep these [...] Related posts:

Renewable Energy Projects Gain MORE Steam because of Water Minimal Requirements: Solar Requires Very Little Water (WallStreetJournal) (March 26, 2009, The Wall Street Journal) Last month, Tri-State...
Florida, Ye Brave New World: 1,000 Folks a Day Won’t Keep Water Shortages Away (Stan Cox, AlterNet) (Jan. 15, 2009, Stan Cox, AlterNet) A thousand people a...
Water Needs Electricity Needs Water (NYTimes) (May 21, 2009, The New York Times) It has long...

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US Restaurants Begin Charging for Water? (SanFranciscoChronicle)

Ben — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:28:29 +0000

(May 11, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle) We all realize it’s a tough economy and restaurants are dealing the best they can. Yet sometimes they go too far, at least that’s what one reader thinks. Here’s his e-mail to me (edited for space): When I go to a restaurant I expect a fork, a plate, a napkin [...] Related posts:

War on Bottled Water Top Trend in Time Magazine: But There’s a Much Deeper Water Issue Here…The Question of Water Markets…And Where OUR Water Comes From (Aquadoc, WaterWired) (Feb. 18, 2009, Aquadoc, WaterWired) John Cloud’s TIME article on...
Tiered “Conservation” Pricing for Local Businesses: Flat Fee for Water Meter Size + Block Water Rate Schedule (Aguanomics) (Feb. 19, 2009, Aguanomics) Throughout this blog, I have advocated...
Will the Bay Area Face Mandatory Water Rationing after the Summer? (Kelly Zito, SanFranciscoChronicle) (April 3, 2009, Kelly Zito, The San Francisco Chronicle) Get...

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Water Crisis in Central Valley NOT Water Supply Related (CaliforniaProgressReport)

Ben — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:26:10 +0000

(May 11, 2009, The California Progress Report) The San Joaquin Valley has been ground zero in the current economic recession. News outlets have run a number of stories about food banks running out of supplies and residents leaving their hometowns in search of work on the East Coast. Water contractors have claimed that recent environmental regulations [...] Related posts:

Future Farmers’ Water War: Drought in the Central Valley, Water Politics and The Higher-Priority Customer (MercedSunStar) (Feb. 2, 2009, The Merced Sun Star) An unprecedented shift...
RED ALERT: Repito, You Can’t Allocate Water Out of Thin Air: Central Valley to Lose 40K Ag Jobs, $1.15B; 600,000 Acre Ft. of Water ALREADY Requested from Water Bank THAT DOESN’T EXIST (VisaliaTimesDelta) (Jan. 22, 2009, Visalia Times-Delta) Don’t be fooled: The latest...
Central Valley Water Districts of California Sue Federal Government over Rules on Endangered Delta Smelt (MercuryNews) (March 3, 2009, The Mercury News) A coalition of water...

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Alabama, Florida, Georgia Water War (MiamiHerald)

Ben — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:20:59 +0000

(May 11, 2009, The Miami Herald) The states of Florida and Alabama are meeting Georgia in federal court in Jacksonville over the allocation of water from Lake Lanier, which is the city of Atlanta’s water supply. U.S. District Judge Paul Manguson will hear arguments Monday from the three states over the legality of the water supply allocations [...] Related posts:

Possible Civil War Over Water?!: Feds Say Atlanta has Legal Mandate to Continue to Draw on Lake Lanier for Public Water (AtlantaJournalConstitution) (Jan. 23, 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) The U.S. Army Corps...
Supreme Court to Hear No Appeal from Georgia in Tri-State Battle: Water Supply NEVER Lake Lanier’s Authorized Purpose (JacksonvilleBusinessJournal) (Jan. 13, 2009, Jacksonville Business Journal) The U.S. Supreme Court...
Metropolitan Atlanta Water Stakes in Lake Lanier Couldn’t Be Higher (AnnistonStar) (Jan. 30, 2009, The Anniston Star) For metropolitan Atlanta, the...

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