WATER BILLS ARE GOING UP.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer PALMDALE - Palmdale Water District customers' bills will go up an average 12 percent starting this month as officials hike rates to pay for more expensive treatment processes needed to meet stiffening stiff·en tr. & intr.v. stiff·ened, stiff·en·ing, stiff·ens To make or become stiff or stiffer. stiff health standards. Rates are going up 7 percent on the basic monthly charge, and up 14 percent on water used beyond that amount, officials said. ``The rationale was that people who are really trying to stay under the minimum are going to have a smaller increase,'' general manager Dennis LaMoreaux said. The new rates will increase the typical charge for a home using 22,500 gallons a month to $44.84, up from $40.08 last year, officials said. Taking inflation into account, the price is about the same as in 1992. Rates are also changing for customers who live at higher elevations south of Avenue S, where pumping the water uphill costs more in electricity. Those extra charges are going up in two areas and down in a third, as a result of recalculated expenses, lowering the typical monthly charge for the highest elevation from $77.83 to $76.34. In a vote last week, the water board also decided to raise rates 2.5 percent across the board annually for the next four years. The last raise was 1.5 percent in November 2004, which was the last of an annual series of 1.5 percent raises enacted in 2000. Last week's action continues the five-tier ``increasing block'' rate structure adopted in 2000: Water costs increase as useage increases, plus the extra charges for customers at higher elevations. The Palmdale Water District serves about 25,000 homes and businesses - about 95,000 people - and covers mostly central and eastern Palmdale, from the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. eastward south of Avenue P. About one-third of the customers are at the higher-elevation areas, which contain much vacant land. The district supplied its customers almost 7.9 billion gallons of water in 2004 and is gaining about 500 new homes a year. The district is in the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of a $40 million upgrade to its treatment plant to reduce the level of substances called trihalomethanes, a byproduct by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. Noun 1. of chlorine used for disinfection disinfection, n the process of destroying pathogenic organisms or rendering them inert. disinfection, full oral cavity, n a procedure used to reduce active periodontal disease, usually completed within a certain short time frame. interacting with organic material in California Aqueduct The California Aqueduct is a 444 mile (715 km)-long[1] aqueduct in the United States that carries water from Northern California to Southern California. water. The upgrade will increase water treatment costs $1.5 million a year, LaMoreaux said. Trihalomethanes have been linked to bladder cancer bladder cancer Malignant tumour of the bladder. The most significant risk factor associated with bladder cancer is smoking. Exposure to chemicals called arylamines, which are used in the leather, rubber, printing, and textiles industries, is another risk factor. and reproductive harm in laboratory animals, as well as to a birth defect birth defect Genetic or trauma-induced abnormality present at birth. A more restrictive term than congenital disorder, it covers abnormalities that arise during the formation of an embryo's organs and tissues and does not include those caused by diseases (e.g. called spina bifida and to miscarriages. |
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