San Luis neighborhood to pay for cooler water; hookup OK’d
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — Residents in one neighborhood here will pay an extra charge for what they hope will be cooler water out of the tap in the summer months.
The San Luis City Council adopted an ordinance to assess the $23.15 charge for a utility hookup aimed at resolving ongoing complaints from about high tap water temperature in the Frontera Estates subdivision.
The charge, added to water bills paid by 18 households in the subdivision, will be collected over a three-year period to pay for an underground line connecting the line that serves San Luis Lane with another line serving residents of Las Casitas apartments on nearby 6th Avenue.
The new line is intended to keep water flowing through the distribution system, rather than remaining stagnant and gaining in temperature. City public works officials hope the measure will also reduce cloudiness in the water, another source of complaints among residents.
The council adopted the ordinance enacting the charge after a majority of residents living along San Luis Lane, between 5th and 6th avenues, expressed their sup-
port for the $15,000 project.
City officials have made no promises the project will bring down the water temperature significantly, and for that reason some of the residents opposed the charge.
“I can’t pay any more, and I’m not in favor of paying for something that is not guaranteed to solve the problem,” resident Apolonia Corral said.
Hot tap water has been an ongoing complaint raised by San Luis residents.
A study done by Nicklaus Engineering for the city in 2015 founded that water came out of the tap at 116 degrees in one of the homes on San Luis Lane during the hottest months. Neither that study nor previous ones found that the water lines or the water distribution system were factors for the high temperatures. “The water lines were checked,” Vega said. “Everything is constructed according to state and federal standards, and in the homes the lines are within code. There’s nothing the city could have done without it being paid for by those residents.”