Water district near Lincoln defends rates: ‘If you’re going to use it, you’re going to pay for it’

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A recent spike in water prices has some Lancaster County residents upset over their water bill.

Last week, Channel 8 spoke with Jamie Baker, who said that under the new rates, her bill this May would increase 550% over last May.

That is due to a recent increase in fees for all district customers, plus higher rates for those who use the most water.

SEE ALSO: ‘Beyond ridiculous’: Lancaster County family outraged over 550% water bill increase

Jordon Bang, manager of the Lancaster Rural Water District, said the reason the Bakers saw a larger bill is due to higher usage.

“The bill didn’t go up 500%,” he said. “What did go up 500% is if you use that same amount of water, or X amount of gallons, like you did last year, it went up that much.”

According to the water district website, monthly minimums increased from $35 to $50 per customer for 0 to 3,000 gallons.

Officials say the base rate of $3 per 1,000 gallons increased to $4 per 1,000 gallons.

Customers will pay that rate on the first 60,000 gallons used.

The rate goes up when you cross the 60,000-gallon mark and again when you reach 71,000 gallons.

“If you’re going to use it, you’re going to pay for it,” Bang said.

He said if a family using 73,000 gallons of water a month cuts back to 60 gallons, their bill would be only $278 a month.

On Wednesday night, about a dozen people came to the district’s board meeting.

But most of them said they didn’t know that they had to sign up in advance to speak.

Mark Sapp was the only resident to speak at the meeting.

He asked the board why it raised rates. He believes those moving to the area need more education about usage.

“People move out here, and it’s not like living in town, when you have a small yard,” he said. “My personal feeling is, I do not think people know how valuable water is.”

Channel 8 caught back up with Jamie Baker after the board meeting.

She said she’s working with the Nebraska Legislature to help get rates down.

“I think if we can have the state senators step in and help us out here,” the rates will go back down, Baker said.

Bang say the point of the increase is not to punish those who do not use a lot of water.

He said the district doesn’t have the supply to meet the current water demand.

So the district has a moratorium and cannot add more customers or subdivisions.

“You need to have X amount of water, which we do, you need to make sure that X amount of water stays to the customers that you have,” Bang said.

He said is a water tower goes empty, residents will be faced with a choice.

First, they will be asked to reduce sprinkler usage by half. If that’s not enough, they will be told not to water their lawns at all.

The goal is to make sure people have enough water, and at a high enough pressure, to shower, wash dishes and brush their teeth.

“We have to provide that to the households long before we ever do to keep that lawn green,” Bang said.

He said it will be difficult to pinpoint when conditions will improve because the peak use season is from May through September.