The Bernalillo Town Council is considering a new ordinance to raise water rates for businesses that use a large amount of water. If passed, the town will be joining many local officials along the Rio Grande who are pushing back against companies that use excessive amounts of water.
During the March 25 meeting, the council introduced a proposal for an ordinance to change the base rate for water usage for businesses that use large amounts of water.
Bernalillo Mayor Jack Torres had this to say at the meeting:
“The primary intent behind this is to provide protection for the town. Right now, we’re pretty much vulnerable in terms of extremely high-use water users. We know other communities in the metro area that are running into a real challenge. Now, one in particular, that has a I guess you’d call it, a water production company. They sell commercial water and the amount of water they’re pulling from those municipal wells is frightening. We get behind this ordinance to really add a premium to the cost of extremely high commercial users. So it will dissuade anybody from wanting to do the same thing with us.”
The Village of Los Lunas has had to contend with water usage issues similar to what Torres described with the Niagara Bottling Company. The company is based in California and opened a 160,000-square-foot facility in Los Lunas in 2016. As reported by The Paper., Niagara asked for an increase of water in 2021, from its original allowed 285 acre-feet per year (AFY) up to 650 AFY.
In 2022, according to the Valencia County News-Bulletin, the company requested access to 700 AFY and then asked to raise it to 782 AFY in 2023. On Feb. 8, the Los Lunas Village Council voted to approve the increase of 600 AFY to the outrage of many in the community.
Pueblo of Isleta Governor Max Zuni, Mayor Brian Olguin of the Town of Peralta and former Bosque Farms Mayor Wayne Ake, wrote a joint letter to the Los Lunas Village Council before the vote, expressing concerns about how it will affect neighboring communities.
“We’re not identifying any particular business or industry, it’s a pre-emptive move to avoid having that problem and then not being able to do anything about it,” said Torres.
Who pays more?
The proposed ordinance will not change water rates for residents or businesses that use low amounts of water, but it will raise rates for companies that use an excessive amount of water.
The proposed ordinance would keep the current base rates for both residential and commercial customers and maintain the charges for each additional 1,000 gallons of water used.
What will change, are the commercial charges for each 1,000 gallons of water. Currently, each additional 1,000 gallons or portions will be assessed at $5 per 1,000 gallons. The new proposal will introduce a tiered system–$5.50 for 2,001 to 39,999 gallons, $9.50 for 40,000 to 99,999 gallons, and $15 for 100,000 gallons and above.
“It’s going to be affecting the large the grower facilities, laundromats and car washes, anything that uses over 100,000 gallons and up, which is a lot of water,” said Bernalillo Town Councilor Sharon Torres-Quintana.
According to Torres-Quintana, the water rate ordinance was last reviewed in 2015 but hasn’t been updated since 1983. Similarly, the sewer ordinance, which is also proposed for an update, was last revised in 1976.
Get involved
Residents can give their input on the proposal at the next Town Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. on April 8 at the Bernalillo Town Hall, located at 829 Camino Del Pueblo.