The mission of the Nipomo Community Services District (NCSD) is to provide its customers with reliable, quality, and cost-effective services now and in the future.
The increasing cost of water can be difficult for all of us water consumers, but this resource is vital to life and essential to our way of living.
Most of us have grown up with the convenience of having water available at the turn of a tap in the comfort of our homes. While it is possible to conserve water, buying or not buying water is not typically an option. We typically do not have an opportunity to pick who we buy our water from because it’s not cost efficient to have more than one water main in the street.
During the Eisenhower years of the 1960s, the average cost of a gallon of milk in the United States was about 50 cents. Today, you can spend in excess of $5 for a gallon of milk depending on the producer and the varied assortment of health additives you choose. The steady increase in the price of milk can be significant when you look over an extended period of time, and time seems to affect the price of almost everything.
Like milk, the cost of water continues to increase. However, if you don’t like the price of milk as a consumer you can choose not to buy milk. Water, on the other hand, is essential.
It is clear that water prices are higher today than a year ago, but is the price of water too high? The knee-jerk response may very well be, “Yes, it is too high.” However, consider the fact that Californians are finally at the end of a long dry spell that caused financial hardships to many sectors of the state’s economy as well as its residents. It is fair to say no one was spared the impact brought on by the historic California drought, and some areas in the state are still suffering due to groundwater levels that take years to recover. As we try to understand the value of water and put a price on it, we would be wise to remember what is at stake if we have no water and add that variable to the cost equation.
The NCSD is dedicated to minimizing rate increases while providing a level of reliability and availability of this precious resource. To accomplish this, the district is conducting a rate study and you are encouraged to be part of the rate building process.
The public will have an opportunity to hear a presentation of the report at the July 12 board meeting. The district board of directors will be looking to community members and ratepayers to provide them with comments, ideas, and suggestions. Public forum dates and times will be announced in the coming weeks.
Visit our website at ncsd.ca.gov for more information and to review the April 12 rate study presentation. Stay engaged in the process and be part of the solution. Follow the district on Facebook and Twitter at @NipomoCSD.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 4, 2017.