In blow to water conservation, court rejects San Juan Capistrano's tiered rates

latimes.com ^ | Matt Stevens

[BenLurkin]

In a ruling with major implications for California's water conservation campaign, a state appeals court on Monday ruled that a tiered water rate structure used by the city of San Juan Capistrano to encourage conservation was unconstitutional..

The Orange County city used a rate structure that charged customers who used small amounts of water a lower rate than customers who used larger amounts.

But the 4th District Court of Appeal struck down San Juan Capistrano's fee plan, saying it violated voter-approved Proposition 218, which prohibits government agencies from charging more for a service than it costs to provide it.

"We do hold that above-cost-of-service pricing for tiers of water service is not allowed by Proposition 218 and in this case, [the city] did not carry its burden of proving its higher tiers reflected its costs of service," the court said in its ruling.

The stakes are high because at least two-thirds of California water providers, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, use some form of the tiered rate system.

Gov. Jerry Brown immediately lashed out at the decision, saying it puts "a straitjacket on local government at a time when maximum flexibility is needed. My policy is and will continue to be: employ every method possible to ensure water is conserved across California.”

[Jack Hydrazine]

[ansel12]

I think that I could get by adequately on 25 gallons a day.

[2ndDivisionVet]

No bias in that headline.

[BlueNgold]

Wow, one for the people.

And the judge, here in CA, agreed.

May wonders never cease.

[G Larry]

How about a blow to the delta smelt and a few other hoaxes designed to limit agriculture.

[Thud]

This is a lot of state & local government abuses coming home to roost. It does mean big trouble for pricing of municipal water supplies.

[Michael.SF.]

If it's yellow, let it mellow.
If it is brown flush it down?

[ansel12]

In the late 1960s Cornell did a study on how to improve the bathroom and we ignored it.

One of the things they recommended was a urinal, because the typical toilet is not designed for male urination, and splashing results, a waterless urinal in California home bathrooms would save much water, but the left and feminists are hostile to urinals. Even in that 1960s study, I think they mentioned that some people (females) are put off by the maleness of the urinal.

The new 1.28 gallon toilets help, and I look forward to having one of those. I may get around to trying that 25 gallon per day experiment.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

One ONLY needs a quart of water to bathe.

[TheZMan]

The Gov.’s response shows how broken California is. Just WOW.

[Rusty0604]

The gov’t can’t charge more for a service than it costs to provide it...

[BenLurkin]

Agreed!

[ansel12]

While I can work on the showering part with a very low flow shower head and an on/off button, what I don’t know yet is how much I use per month on laundry, I don’t think it is a lot, but I don’t know the figure, I’ve been too lazy to measure it.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Sounds like the swallows (of water) have returned to Capistrano.

[BenLurkin]

[lewislynn]

I wonder how much California water is sitting in warehouses and retail outlets across the state and country?

[Enterprise]

As I understand this, Proposition 218 was put on the ballot in 1996 by the Howard Jarvis organization because the politicians wanted to get around Proposition 13. Proposition 13 limited taxation and the yearly rate of increases to property. Apparently the politicians saw water rates as a way to raise revenue in lieu of the limits on property tax increases. So, the Howard Jarvis Organization put Proposition 218 on the ballot to limit the money Government can receive from supplying water to the actual costs of providing the service. Brilliant!

Proposition 218 came to the rescue of Proposition 13.

[PA Engineer]

While I can work on the showering part with a very low flow shower head and an on/off button, what I don’t know yet is how much I use per month on laundry, I don’t think it is a lot, but I don’t know the figure, I’ve been too lazy to measure it.

Are you on a well or municipal? We have a well, but was able to figure out the water usage by putting a timer on the pressure tank switch and doing a couple of loads.

Got a pretty good estimate of usage as well as power usage and bought a new washer and dryer set. That knocked are water usage down by about a third and greatly reduced our power consumption. I did this to plan our backup power system.

If it is municipal, do you have a water meter?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Tiered rates:
1. First thimbleful is free
2. 1,000th gallon in a month costs the same as inkjet ink.
3. Gallon 10,000 costs the same as scorpion venom.