The federal government has given the city of Fresno
an ultimatum: Either change the way you write your water bills, or
risk losing a third of your water supply.
A 1992 law
forbids the federal government from renewing water contracts with
central California cities, unless the cities bill residents based
on how much water they use, rather than charging a flat monthly
fee. But Fresno voters have responded by rejecting two ballot
initiatives that would have allowed officials to install and read
residential water meters. It would “raise taxes and raise
bureaucracy in the city,” according to Chris Mathys,
spokesman for the San Joaquin Taxpayers Association, which opposes
meters.
Fresno’s constitution prohibits water
meters without voter approval, so in a final attempt to get an
exception from the 1992 law, Mayor Alan Autry met in January with
John Keys III, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Keys
made it clear that Fresno must comply by 2006, when the
city’s federal water contract expires, or lose 60,000
acre-feet of water.
Patrick Wiemiller, assistant director
of public utilities in Fresno, says water meters encourage people
to conserve, because if you use less water, you pay less each
month. If a third meter initiative, slated for 2004, fails, City
Council-man Jerry Duncan says Fresno will have two options left:
“One, our city shrivels up and dies; or two, we buy water on
the open market and pay five to six times more for
it.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Water face-off in Fresno.
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