CAREFREE
– Surcharges and higher rates could face Carefree residents,
should the current drought conditions worsen and cause
water shortages.
Councilman
Greg Gardner led an informal public workshop on May 16,
unveiling a water conservation and emergency/drought preparedness
plan–required by the state by June 1.
The
plan shows three stages of water conservation, of which
the first two are voluntary reductions in use. The third
stage is mandatory.
In
Stage I, residents and businesses would be asked to cut
back 10 percent on their water usage. At Stage II, the
group would be asked to curtail another five percent of
usage, a total of 15 percent.
Gardner
noted there are several ways of reducing the use of water,
but mainly through the discontinuation of yard irrigation.
At
Stage III, water conservation could be mandated by the
state. Residential and commercial property owners would
be required to cut water usage by 20 percent, and no outside
water or irrigation would be allowed. Household use would
also come under scrutiny.
In
addition, all water meters would incur a surcharge of
$8.36 a month. And if a resident on a water meter up to
one inch in size uses more than 7,000 gallons a month,
their water rate would rise another $4.50 per 1,000 gallons
above that limit.
Should
a resident on that size meter then use more than 10,000
gallons in a month, a third tier of water rates would
kick in and that property owner would be charged an additional
$9.50 per 1,000 gallons above the second‑tier charge.
Carefree
Water Company manager Stan Francom later told The Desert
Advocate that Carefree users average 15,000 gallons per
month.
Several
residents asked questions during the presentation, especially
about tracking water use, accountability and enforcement.
“What
if people already are conserving?” resident Dick Stuart
asked.
Francom
said the water company is in the process of installing
modern, digital water meters that can be read by a handheld
monitor from the street, meaning anemployee could go down
the same street every day and see how much water each
person has used during the previous 24 hours. If a water
emergency is declared, the town then could track the “offenders”
and knock on their doors to try and get them into compliance.
Some
of those present were in favor of more harsh punishments,
but Gardner noted there is no provision for the town to
be that punitive. Francom added that if there is a catastrophic
water shortage, a worst‑case scenario is that there
wouldn’t be enough water to go around–and so it is in
everyone’s best interest to conserve.
As
for supply, Gardner noted the town has more than one million
gallons in storage and can pump groundwater if something
happens to the town’s CAP allocation, which is 1,300 acre
feet a year. An acre foot of water is enough to serve
two households for an entire year.
Francom
also said the town has enough diesel fuel to keep its
pumps running for several days in case of a prolonged
electricity outage and that contracts are in place to
buy more diesel fuel if the outage runs longer than the
fuel supply.
Answering
other questions, Francom informed the audience that construction
water trucks pay the highest rate allowable when watering
down the streets, adding this practice would be stopped
in the event of a water emergency.
“We’re
certainly not going to use water to keep dirt down,” Francom
said.
