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LB Water/Sewer Rates Will Remain Unchanged For Third Straight Year; Management Manages To Keep Rates Flat Despite Higher Imported Water & Pumping Costs & Less Water Consumed


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(June 21, 2012) -- The LB Water Department's governing board today (June 21) adopted its FY13 budgets and rates...with water and sewer rates unchanged for the third straight year.

In a release, the Water Dept. says it was able to keep water rates flat for the third year in a row "despite having to absorb significant cost increases in recent years related to the purchase, pumping and treatment of water."

LB's Water Dept. rates have remained steady since its most recent rate increase in Oct. 2009 despite a nearly 20% cost in the cost of imported water and a roughly 32% increase in the cost of pumping water, the agency says. Residents have also conserved water, reducing consumption by more than 15% citywide as a result of an aggressive water conservation effort begun in late 2007.

At one point when the Water Department began its conservation effort, the agency cited residents' reduced water consumption (as the agency had urged them to do) as a paradoxical reason for raising rates, but not so in recent years.

"It's common to hear people say that water conservation cannot be sustained without having to raise rates, said LB Water Dept. General Manager Kevin Wattier in the release. "However, over the past few years in Long Beach we have been fortunate to be able to manage the costs that we have the ability to control in a way that has allowed us to keep rates low, while also maintaining a dramatic reduction in citywide water use...It really is a win-win for both our customers and the water supply reliability of our city."

The agency release says Long Beach is at the lower end of the rate spectrum compared to other large cities and water services providers in CA. It says LB residents who use an average of about 9,000 gallons of water a month will continue seeing a monthly combined water and sewer bill of about $52...and when combined with an annual L.A. County Sanitation District parcel tax the average total bill is about $64 a month. .



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