Tapping water will be more costly
Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, May 22, 2002
The cost of flushing the toilet or rinsing out dirty socks in Oak Harbor will likely increase by 3.9 percent.
The Oak Harbor City Council is scheduled to discuss the rate increase at the May 21 council meeting. The annual water rate changes are based on the percentage of increase from the city of Anacortes, plus the change in the cost of living from the previous year.
Oak Harbor purchases the city’s water from Anacortes, which owns water rights on the Skagit River. Anacortes has a water plant on the river in Mount Vernon. The water is treated and piped to Anacortes, LaConner, oil refineries and under Deception Pass bridge to Oak Harbor.
Anacortes adjusts the wholesale rates each year, based on the costs of the water system. Several years ago, Anacortes raised rates by more than 40 percent in order to cover costs of replacing miles of water pipes.
This year the water rates from Anacortes have remained relatively unchanged. But the cost of living increase last year was 3.9 percent. So that means the city will pass on a 3.9 percent water rate increase to city residents.
According to information from Anacortes, Oak Harbor’s efforts to get people to conserve water last year was successful. Over the last year, Oak Harbor consumed 823.4 million gallons of water. That’s a decrease of 34.4 million gallons, or about 4 percent, from the previous year.
