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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING YOUR BILL
The Clay County Utility Authority (“Authority”) has proposed two major changes that
will impact your water bill. Both of the changes are designed to help conserve water.
They include changing the billing frequency from quarterly (once every three months)
to monthly. The second change involves the volume (rate per thousand gallons) charge.
Instead of having just one volume charge, there will be four. The rate increases
as you use more water.
We are confident that changing the frequency to monthly billing will send a more
prompt signal, alerting you to a leak much sooner, and consequently allow you the
opportunity to conserve water. Under quarterly billing, you may have a leaking fixture
which could waste water for up to three months without your knowledge.
Multiple inclining volume charges are also intended to encourage water conservation.
The idea is simple; the more you use, the more you pay. The proposed rate structure
has four tiers. The first tier has the lowest rate, and provides a reasonable amount
for water for essential use. As the amount of water used increases to the highest
category, the volume charge increases significantly.
We are absolutely convinced that water conservation must be given a high priority.
Consider these facts:
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At this time our only drinking water source is the Floridan Aquifer;
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The conclusions of the draft 2008 Water Supply Assessment1, conducted
by the St. Johns River Water Management District (WMD) are clear. We will reach
a point when we cannot continue to pump water from the Floridan Aquifer to meet
projected growth without harming spring flows, lake levels, wetlands and water quality.
Currently, the Assessment study is unable to pinpoint when we will see adverse impacts,
but there is enough evidence to conclude that within the next 20 years our community
will face serious problems if increased demand puts us in a position of over pumping
the resource.
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There are alternative water supplies; however, they are extremely expensive and
unpopular. They include:
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Withdraw and treat water from our local streams and rivers. This option is about
10 times more costly; and
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Withdrawing and treating water from the ocean, then pumping the treated water to
our homes. This option is about 50 times more expensive than pumping
water from the Floridan Aquifer.
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Ultimately, we may have to develop one of these expensive alternative water supplies.
It is in everyone’s best interest to defer those massive expenditures for as long
as possible. The single best way to defer these costs is conservation.
There are many ways we can all contribute to water conservation. The Authority’s
primary focus will be continuing to expand our reclaimed water initiative and we
will supplement the reclaimed system with storm water whenever practical. Our reclaimed
water program currently conserves billions of gallons of drinking water every year.
You can help in a number of significant ways. When enough of us repair our leaking
plumbing fixtures and change other wasteful use habits, the impact can be very significant.
We recommend you visit these water conservation resources. They will offer many
other things you can do to help protect the resource and reduce your cost:
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Conduct your own water use audit:
http://www/clayutility.org/conservation/water_survey.aspx
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Review attractive landscaping techniques that minimize water use
http://www.floridaswater.com/waterwiselandscapes/index.html
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Receive your own conservation literature featuring other water savings ideas
http://www.floridaswater.com/waterconservation/index.html
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A summary of the proposed rate structure, which is expected to go into effect October
1, 2010, may be reviewed at:
http://www.clayutility.org/monthly/proposed_rate_structure.aspx.
For more details on how the proposed rates will affect your bill, please use our
bill calculator feature on our web site at:
http://www.clayutility.org/monthly/monthly_bill_calculator.aspx.
You may use this calculator to determine how the proposed conservation rate structure
will impact your bill as you are accustomed to using water, and also determine how
much you will save when you reduce the amount of water you use. You may expect to
receive your first monthly bill on or about November 1, 2010.
After you have had time to study the proposed rate structure, you will notice there
is a focus on irrigation. We believe wasteful irrigation represents an opportunity
for substantial conservation benefits.
It is important to understand that the issues we face today are much larger than
how this affects a customer’s water bill. Having a clean, safe and economical water
supply will influence the quality of life of our entire community.
Our overriding management philosophy has always been to provide our customers with
the most value at the lowest possible cost. That same philosophy will continue to
guide us as we address new questions about the sustainability of the resource we
have relied upon for years.
The very clear and compelling conclusion is we must conserve. Responsible
use of our most precious resource will hopefully allow us to defer the development
of costly and unpopular alternatives, and provide us more time to prepare.
We will be discussing these issues on August 19, 2010, in workshop sessions
in the Board Room at our office, located at 3176 Old Jennings Road, Middleburg,
Florida. In an attempt to accommodate as many as possible, two meetings have been
scheduled, the first at 2:00 pm, the second at 6:30 pm.
If, after reviewing the information provided, you have questions or want additional
information we welcome you to attend one of the workshops.
Ray O. Avery,
Executive Director
Clay County Utility Authority
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