For the first time in four years, Madison Water Utility is in the process of requesting a rate increase with the hopes of boosting revenue and promoting water conservation.
If approved, this rate increase would create an overall 30 percent revenue increase which would be used to cover the costs of major infrastructure repair and operational costs.
Ald. Lauren Cnare, District 3, who serves on the city’s Water Utility Board said many of the city’s buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s do not have as high quality water mains as previously-built buildings. This means that come winter time, the city faces many water main breaks, Cnare said.
Cnare said part of getting this problem fixed quickly and efficiently starts with the rising rates.
“We have lots of miles of pipe from the building boom era that are falling apart,” she said.
Along with the repair and replacement of water pipes, Cnare said the revenue raised from the rate increase would also be used to dig at least one more well for the city, implement a multimillion dollar filtering system and to continue to run the water utility.
Madison Water Utility services five different classes of customers, one of which is residential. While many of the final details of the rate increase plan have yet to be established, if approved the rate increases for residential customers would likely be less than 30 percent, Madison Water Utility spokeswoman Amy Barrilleaux said.
To help customers play a more active role in controlling their rates and promote conservation, Madison Water Utility has also launched a website that allows customers to access real-time information about their water usage.
Barrilleaux said Madison is the first city in Wisconsin to offer this type of online water tracking tool. Previously, customers received a utility bill every six months with little information about the breakdown of their day-to-day usage. The launch of this website completely changed this.
The online system gives customers an in-depth look at their water usage and enables customers to see how much water their appliances use and even allow customers to assess their own inefficiencies, Barrilleaux said.
“It’s hard for people to understand how they can conserve,” Barrilleaux said.
This website is one way in which customers can play an active role in conservation. However, there are many other simple ways in which Madison customers can limit their water usage, Barrilleaux said.
For example, one customer switched from sprinklers to a water pail to water his plants following advice from Madison Water Utility, and he was able to save hundreds of gallons of water.
By making residents’ water usage data available, the hope is they will take advantage of the information and use it to keep their own rates low, Barrilleaux said.
“The plan is, for the first time, incentivize conservation in Madison for residential customers when it comes to water,” Barrilleaux said. “We want to reward customers who use less water.”
