Discount proposed for big water users

Metropolitan District’s rate plan likely would only benefit Niagara Bottling

HARTFORD — For the third time in four years, The Metropolitan District is proposing a discounted rate for large volume water users.

And for the third time in four years, it appears that the only company that would benefit from the proposed discount is California-based Niagara Bottling, which has a plant in Bloomfield that could use up to 1.8 million gallons a day at full operation.

And for the third time in four years, water conservationists plan to thwart the effort.

“It’s like Groundhog Day,” said Val Rossetti, a member of Save Our Water CT, a statewide water conservation coalition that grew out of the controversy over the Niagara bottling plant. “We’ve been through this two times.”

The current proposal, already adopted by the commission’s water bureau, calls for companies that use more than 500,000 gallons of water and create an equal amount of wastewater per day to receive a 20 percent discount.

Rossetti said Friday that the group plans to attend and speak at Monday’s MDC meeting in which the water bureau is expected to discuss and possibly vote on raising the threshold for the discount to 600,000 gallons or more.

Once that is decided, a public hearing on the proposal will be set. Rossetti said her group and others will be at that hearing as well to voice their opposition once again.

Rossetti said the current proposal, being labeled as an “economic development rate,” raises several questions, including whether the municipal water authority’s charter allows them to be involved in economic development activity, and whether a carve out for what appears to benefit only one customer can have much of an impact on the agency’s bottom line.

“It’s not going to help solve their financial crisis,” said Rossetti.

In December the commission voted to raise water rates on its customers in eight member towns by 13.43 percent. At that meeting MDC CEO Scott Jellison said that 70 percent of the nonprofit utility’s revenue comes from how much water is sold.

In recent years, according to the MDC, it has also produced about 47 million gallons of water a day, which is 15 million gallons less than 30 years ago. Officials have also pointed out that the federal government has not offered the financial support for water and sewer projects that it did in the past.

In an email sent to local politicians and state legislators in January, Jellison noted that one of the most common questions asked of the MDC when it made budget presentations to member towns was what could the agency do to increase water revenues. Jellison said in the email that the board would be taking “taking steps effectuating a rate structure similar to other water utilities in Connecticut and around the country.”

Jellison declined to comment on the current proposal until after Monday’s meeting.

Windsor Mayor Donald Trinks said Friday that he had heard about the proposal but could not support it because it does not address annual increases to residential water rates.

“If we saw an immediate reduction in consumer rates I’d be willing to take a closer look,” Trinks said.

Monday’s meeting will begin at 3 p.m. at MDC headquarters, 555 Main St., Hartford.