Bartonville Water Supply Corporation would like to present to the readers of The Cross Timbers Gazette an informative occasional column that will provide answers to your submitted questions about BWSC. Of course, without that first question I had to select a topic.
How about comparing residential water rates for our area?
To do this we selected neighboring water utilities, gathered their most recent rates, and calculated what a customer could expect to pay for water at each of eight utilities when using a designated number of gallons.
You will note in the BWSC column how dramatically the cost increases when crossing over the usage threshold of 60,000 gallons. This probably raises a question in your mind, why so steep?
Approximately 95% of BWSC customer’s use less than 40,000 – 50,000 gallons of water per month during the peak consumption, hottest months of the Texas summer. This includes irrigation, swimming pools, etc. with all homes being situated on at least one acre.
The remaining 5% of customers consume amounts of water above 60,000 gallons per month in the summer and other months and contribute to BWSC’s ongoing need to purchase additional surface water, drill additional water wells and build facilities to meet that 5% demand. So, BWSC’s rates and charges in those upper usage tiers allow those customers to pay their portion for the additional infrastructure without penalizing the other 95% of our customers.
The state agencies regulating BWSC and other public water systems like those mentioned in our chart require that all water rates promote water conservation. In fact, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has commented that in the future, and to assure a future “with” water for Texas, a maximum limit could be “considered” and placed on the amount of water used per household in Texas. I recall a number discussed of 50,000 gallons as the cutoff. As a result, BWSC’s rates comply with regulations and promote water conservation.
The Bartonville Water Supply Corporation serves approximately 20 square miles in South Central Denton County, including Bartonville, Copper Canyon and Double Oak, and portions of Highland Village, Flower Mound, and unincorporated Denton County. Please submit your questions or concerns to Jim Leggieri, General Manager, at [email protected].
