Haley: Measurement of water use needs changed in Sun Cities

What do the following all have in common?

A, a 5,000-square-foot house in Paradise Valley with a huge lawn, large pool and six full-time occupants; B, an 1,100-square-foot home in Sun City where the owner spends the entire summer in Minnesota; C, my neighbor’s house in Sun City West that has been completely unoccupied since we moved here five years ago.

Answer,  they all will be paying EPCOR Water Co. $42 per month for wastewater service, something they have been after for several years.

I have friends in Peoria and Glendale that have more water usage than I do, and they pay less for water and waste treatment than we will be paying for our sewage by itself. These same cities will both give a discount on your bill if you refill a pool or have a large irrigation leak. EPCOR says, “No way, we don’t make exceptions!”

My winter monthly water use is 2,000 gallons, summer is never more than 5,000. The difference, of course, is yard irrigation, which doesn’t go down the drain! The 2,000 includes once per week watering. Statistics say that about 80% of the water that goes into the house actually goes down the sewer. My sewer bill should reflect maybe 1,600 gallons going down the drain. Forty-two dollars for 1,600 gallons is absurd. Forty-two dollars, monthly, for a part-time resident, or a vacant house, is really absurd.

Please get involved in this issue.

Hopefully the Independent will keep giving us meeting updates and information on who to write to.

A lot of residents have fixed incomes. EPCOR wants to see us have declining spending cash while theirs goes up immensely!

Editor’s Note: We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.