SaveOurWaterCT
  • Home
  • BLOG
  • JOIN US
  • Take Action
  • UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Contact Us
  • Water Wars

BLOG WITH US

Save Our Water CT Testimony to MDC Board

2/26/2020

0 Comments

 
Save Our Water CT opposes the proposed MDC combined water and Clean Water Project Charge discounts being offered to large corporate super-users.
 
The MDC faces real financial challenges from problems decades in the making: repairs needed for aging water and sewer infrastructure, a consent decree to clean up sewage overflows into the CT River, and an overall decrease in water consumption. For resident ratepayers, especially low-income families, increasing water rates are challenging budgets and forcing families to choose between water and other essential needs.
 
Creating a corporate discount, which applies to one super user- Niagara Bottling of California- is not the solution to challenges faced by the MDC or its low-income customers.

  • Let’s be clear:  the discounts proposed add up to an overall 50%: a 20% discount for the water use and 75% for the Clean Water Project Charge (CWPC) for all water use over 600,000 gallons/day on a monthly average. The MDC does not like mentioning the huge CWPC discount, but that’s where “the real money is” for a water bottling corporation. Residents will pay $3.97/ccf for water and $4.10/ccf for the CWPC for a total of $8.07/ccf. Once Niagara hits the discounts, it will pay $3.18/ccf for water and $1.025/ccf for CWPC for a total of $4.205/ccf.
  • The MDC is assuring its customers that these discounts will result in a drop in water rates of 11 cents/ccf.  This will happen if (and only if) Niagara uses their full 1.8 M gallons of water/day.  But the MDC is not telling us what the drop in rates would be if Niagara PAID FULL PRICE. These discounts could amount to as much as a $2.2 Million/yr corporate give-away to one environmentally unsound customer. And the Independent Consumer Advocate’s financial analysis indicates that the discount could actually lose MDC money.
  • The issue of these corporate discounts is not an “environmental vs. an economic or social justice issue” as the MDC has tried to represent.  Niagara, a privately held, profitable corporation has already expanded without the benefit of discounts and should pay its full and fair share.  Those additional revenues could result in an even larger drop in residential rates- rather than enriching a private corporation. Furthermore, the MDC needs to consider a rate structure which provides for a basic household rate for essential needs, requiring those using high amounts of water to pay more. Access to clean affordable water is a social justice issue.
  • The environment is a concern for all regardless of income or neighborhood. Plastic production emits pollutants into the air around low-income neighborhoods.  Diesel fumes cause spikes in asthma along truck routes. Plastic micro-particles are now entering our bodies as well as our rivers and oceans. It’s up to us all to protect our shared environment
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Save Our Water CT

    Citizen advocates acting to protect and conserve Connecticut's public trust waters.

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016

    Categories

    All
    Bottled Water
    DEEP
    Diversion Permit
    Drought
    Freedom Of Information
    Legislation
    MDC
    Public Trust
    Tilcon
    Water Planning
    WUCC

    RSS Feed

Contact Us
Picture
Subscribe
  • Home
  • BLOG
  • JOIN US
  • Take Action
  • UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Contact Us
  • Water Wars