In response to an article in the April 17 edition of The Queens Courier on the New York City Water Board’s proposed 14.5 percent rate hike, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has found that water is still cheaper than beer.
The article, entitled, “Here we flow again – water rates to rise” began with the idle speculation, “At this rate it’s going to be cheaper to drink beer.”
Not so, said the DEP, which responded to the story with a phone call on the afternoon of Friday, April 18, while temperatures were hitting a thirst-provoking 80 degrees in parts of Queens.
“We’ve done some calculations,” said Mike Saucier, a DEP spokesperson, “And we found that a 12 ounce glass of water costs eight-one-hundredths of a cent.”
That’s $.0008 per glass, which certainly seems cheaper than beer.
But wait. Does that include the sewer rent?
“Of course,” Saucier responded, barely suppressing a chuckle.
In point of fact, New York City still boasts world-renowned drinking water. But since 2000, the Water and Sewer rates have risen every year.
The cumulative effect of the annual increases will mean that next year’s water bills will be about 85.5 percent higher than they were in the beginning of 2000. Worse yet, the size of the increases sought by the Water Board are spiraling higher each year.
That’s pretty sobering.
Increases in water rates by year: (Source DEP)
2000 4 percent
2001 1 percent
2002 3 percent
2003 6.5 percent
2004 5.5 percent
2005 5.5 percent
2006 3 percent
2007 9.4 percent
2008 11.5 percent
2009 14.5 percent (proposed)
