Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Thu 10/02/2008


Section: ThisWeek

Page: 7

Edition: 3 STAR

Water
bills to increase for northwest residents / Officials say Jan. 1 fee hike is
necessary



By KIM JACKSON , Houston Chronicle Correspondent

About
460,000 residents in north and northwest w:st="on">Harris County
will see an increase on monthly water bills early next year due to a recent fee
approved by the North Harris County Regional Water Authority.

North
authority officials said there are several reasons they approved the fee
increase, and they did not do so without putting significant thought into the
matter.

Why
the increase?

"From
the beginning, the North Harris County Regional Water Authority has made a
commitment to municipal utility districts and residents to keep our fees as low
as possible for as long as possible," said Al Rendl,
a north authority board member.

"Now
we are at a stage where we are about to bring surface water to the area, and we
have sold a significant number of bonds to make that happen. Our latest bond
sale, as well as the need to create a reserve fund for our 2003 and 2005 bond
issues due to the recent banking financial crisis, has caused us to raise our
fee at this time."

The
north authority board voted to add 51 cents to its existing 99-cent class=SpellE>pumpage fee. The pumpage fee is
applied to every 1,000 gallons of water pumped from a water district or water
provider's underground wells, and passed along to customers based on the amount
of water used each month.

The
$1.50-per-1,000-gallons fee will go into effect Jan. 1. It will apply to all
member MUDs and water providers in an area roughly bordered by U.S. 290 on the
west, the Harris County line/Spring Creek on the north, FM 1960 and class=SpellE>Bammel-North Houston on the south and the western shores of
Lake Houston on the east.

If
a homeowner used 10,000 gallons of water in a month, the pumpage
fee for that month's bill would come to about $15. That fee is added to the MUD
or water company's water fees, which vary from district to district.

Conversion
movement

The
north authority was created in 2000 to guide MUDs and other providers in a
335-square-mile area in north and northwest w:st="on">Harris County

through a massive water conversion movement.

The
Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District requires that area residents stop
relying on below-ground well water and switch to a regional surface water
system over the next 25 years. By 2030, the north authority will have in place
a massive pipeline system that supplies about 80 percent of those districts
with water from Houston's northeast water
treatment plant on Lake
Houston.

Rendl said the north authority has sold
bonds to pay for the construction and related costs to build that system, plus
pay for its share in the city of Houston's
surface water treatment plant and associated pipeline system on w:st="on">Lake Houston.
That lake water will provide the surface water source north authority residents
will drink and use in the future.

In
the past three years, the north authority has been building the first phase of
its surface water system, which enables the required number of districts to
convert to surface water by 2010, about 20 percent, and allows districts
experiencing well problems to buy water from districts with excess water to
sell.

Local
water district officials say they knew fee increases were coming their way as
the authority constructed its system, but had mixed reactions on the recent
51-cent rate hike.

Gordon
Landwermeyer, a Westador
MUD board member, said the individual fee components made sense and the fee
increase seemed fair.

"We
(water users) have been using an under-priced utility like we were drunken
sailors for too long," Landwermeyer said.

"Finally we are getting closer to paying what it is worth."

Edward
Monto, Harris County MUD 191 president, said he thought
the increase was "pretty high."

"However,
it is easy to be critical when you are not deeply involved," class=SpellE>Monto said.

"I
know they are putting a lot of pipe in the ground, but I do not know all of the
details."

Monto said the $1.50-per-1,000 gallons authority
fee will be larger than MUD 191's fee-per-1,000 gallon of water used.

Jan
Belcher, Tomball city manager, said city officials were aware there would be a
north authority rate increase next year but did not expect it to happen until
later in 2009. However, during the city's budget planning process they went
ahead and budgeted for a 29 percent increase. The 51-cent hike is a 34 percent
increase, but the city's budget would be able to cover it, she said.