Are we getting hosed on water?

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: Rundles Wrap-up

WHEN THE DROUGHT CAME AND THE CALL WENT OUT, I, like almost all my neighbors, answered the call. We used less water. We watered our lawns fewer times a week, for shorter periods of time, and we let the grass grow to retain moisture.

We watched how often we flushed and washed, and we put a low-volume shower head in the bathroom. When it came to lawns, we learned to appreciate the color off-green, brown-green. And mostly brown.

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For the first time in my many experiences with watering restrictions, we--I, my neighbors, and all Denver's neighborhoods--did something I never thought we could do.

We dried out.

We drank less.

We heeded the warnings.

We collectively acted unselfishly in the interest of the greater good.

And our reward?

Higher fees, or fewer services, or both.

I don't want to be too hard on Denver Water because it's not like it is gouging us or anything. I mean, this isn't Xcel Energy or Qwest, where profits to shareholders and high bonuses to executives come first. With those other utilities there wouldn't be a question of motive: first them, then us. But the water department is a true collective; it takes in money to run its operations, prepare for the future and cover emergencies.

I wonder, however, why the department didn't say anything in advance that a call for conservation could lead to higher fees.

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You see, because all of us were so good and saved so much water--estimates are that we are using something like 30 percent less water than we did in the profligate days before the drought--Denver Water is looking at a $23 million shortfall in revenue and something of a crisis.

Water systems age and are complicated and need constant maintenance, not to mention wholesale upgrades to keep up with a dynamic metro area. Denver Water was planning on some $15 million in capital improvements about now, but it won't be able to fund these out of operations now that we have all become conservationists.

It's so unusual. We use less, we pay more. We do the right thing, the responsible act, and, basically, we get hosed.

But I still have this nagging question.

Denver Water seems to be in almost a panic over this, as if it had no idea that it would lose revenue if people conserved.

But since it charges for water by...