Arcadia : New Water Bills Planned

The City Council has taken the first step toward revamping city water bills to let consumers know how much water they’re using--and saving.

The council on Tuesday voted 5 to 0 to allocate $18,600 to hire a computer programmer to change the billing program, and to pay for envelopes and postage to notify customers of a proposed mandatory conservation program to be discussed by the council Feb. 5.

The city expects to complete the billing change in about two months. The new bills will include how much water was used and conserved compared to a base year to be decided later.

The mandatory conservation measure is being considered because of the continuing drought, and because a city-imposed voluntary conservation program started in 1988 was a flop, with consumers reducing water consumption by less than 3%--far short of the goal of a 10% reduction from the previous 12 months.