| OCR Text |
Show • Continue using the state engineer's existing methods of measuring and reporting agricultural water at points of diversions. • Metering of individual secondary system connections is not recommended until an economical and reliable meter is developed. Studies show metered households use about 20 percent less water, mostly in outdoor water uses, if billed on water usage and rate structures rather than on fixed rates. Metering is necessary to evaluate and implement municipal and industrial water management and conservation plans. The water use of about 99 percent of Utah's population is metered, but U. S. military bases in Davis and Tooele counties are not metered. No significant reduction in agricultural water use is anticipated through metering of water supplied through irrigation companies that currently regulate water use by watering schedules and flow control structures. Little metering of individual users occurs in secondary water systems because existing meters are unreliable and uneconomical for unfiltered water. Subsection 207( f)( 2)( B). Elimination of declining block rate schedules from any system of water or wastewater treatment charges. • Each municipal water provider should adopt a water pricing policy that promotes water conservation. • Water utilities in Utah and federal funding agencies ( Bureau of Reclamation) should investigate the feasibility of mutually revising " take or pay" contracts to minimize dis- incentives to conservation pricing. The water pricing policy could: ( 1) Require that all accounts be metered, and meters read consistently during high use periods, ( 2) establish water and sewer rates that provide incentives for customers to reduce their water and sewer bills by reducing their water consumption; and ( 3) include a capital improvement reserve fund in the rate- making process to help pay for replacing or expanding water system facilities or developing the next water source. Water delivery contracts that require a buyer to pay for the contracted amount of water whether or not the buyer uses the water do not promote water conservation. Subsection 207( f)( 2)( C). A program of leak detection and repair that provides for the inspection of all conveyance and distribution mains, and the performance of repairs, at intervals of three years or less. • Local water utilities should set standards ( best management practices) for an annual water system accounting that will quantify water system losses and trigger a repair and maintenance program. 3 |
