PROVO, Utah — As the Provo City Council votes on how much water rates should increase and what new tiers will look like, things will certainly be different for people who simply use water inside the home, outside watering their lawns and other excess use.
The council is proposing a three-tier system, a chance from the current two-tier system that covers the summer and winter.
District four councilmember for Provo, Travis Hoban, said it could impact many people in the community.
“To go from tier one to tier two is a 57% increase. To go from tier two to tier three is a 74% increase," explained Provo council member Travis Hoban. "Contrast that to Provo power or Orem City, the increases are somewhere between 15% to 18%."
Provo resident Vicki Gehring has lived in the same home since 1982 and her property sits on a lot of land.
“There were orchards across the street and orchards behind me, so it was a wonderful place to raise kids,” Gehring said. “And the property came with water rights, so it wasn’t hard to maintain with irrigation water.”
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Gehring says she used to pay just $25 a year. Now, in the summer, she pays more than $100. With the proposed tier system, that number could increase even more.
“Unless I just let everything die, there’s no way I can avoid going over the penalty that the city has set for how much water I’m allowed to use," she added, "So I don’t know.”
Another Provo resident, Daniel Jenks, is worried about the possible change.
“The cost of living, the cost of groceries, this is just one more thing that I feel is going to hit me hard to negatively affect my life,” Jenks said.
When Jenks looked at this year compared to last, he said he's conserving more water, but believes his medium-size yard would likely take a hit. He said he usually spends about $80 on a water bill during the summer months.
Tiered water rates, sprinkler head bans considered in Utah legislature:
Tiered water rates, sprinkler head bans considered in Utah legislature
“Our water bill gets extremely high in the summertime when we’re watering more," he shared. "We try to combat that with products we put on the ground to save water and help the soil, but inevitably, we have to continue to use water."
When the state legislature passed HB 274, they wanted to address water conservation.
At Utah Water Ways, Executive Director Tage Flint said switching to a different landscape could help with conservation and your water bill.
“A lot of Utahns still don’t realize that over 60% of all the water we use in our household for the whole year is used out in our landscapes in 6 months. So, if you start doing the math on that, that’s where the savings can occur.” Flint added.
Flint says it’s not a change you need to make all at once; instead, start small or look for local incentive programs. He added that with the tiered water system, the homes that are using an excess amount will be charged more, but that money will go to water conservation efforts for the city.
Gehring has had to cut down trees, install drought-resistant grass, and put down added gravel and said it still won’t be enough for her to save money.
“I can’t change the size of my property, so it’s not going to be enough, with the way it is,” Gehring said. “There’s no way I can afford to not go into that higher tier with my water use in the summertime.”
