The rate increase will be utilized as a tool to facilitate water conservation and to help pay for increased costs associated with high demand on the Utility.
The rate increase would go into effect on July 1st, 2022 According to the United States Geological Survey, a science bureau in the United States Department of the Interior, the average person uses between 80-100 gallons of water per day. According to the United States Census Bureau, the average household size in 2020 was 2.51 people.
A conservative approach when considering revising Lakeland Water Rates might be to assume that every household that is served by Lakeland Water Utility is comprised of 4 people that use 100/gallons per day, per person. Using 400/gallons per day per house-hold as a base, the average consumption would be 12,000 gallons of water per 30 day month, per household.
In addition, it could be considered reasonable to recognize the use of water for irrigation purposes (or “other”), throughout the year. For perspective, it takes 27,154 gallons of water to apply 1 inch of water to 1 acre of land. Therefore, a starting base of 20,000 gallons of water per month (60,000 gallons per quarter) . That would leave 12,000 gallons per month for household consumption, and 8,000 gallons per month for “other”. At that threshold, the Lakeland Water Rate of $3.00/per 1,000 gallons for the first 60,000 gallons of water used each quarter would remain in effect.
Once a household goes above the threshold of 60,000 gallons per quarter, the rates would increase to $6.00/per 1,000 gallons.