East Texas

By KELLY GOOCH
Staff Writer

WHITEHOUSE - There is no doubt about it. Whitehouse residents will be paying more for water.

Whitehouse City Council members voted Tuesday to accept a 25-year contract with Tyler Water Utilities to be the supplier of water to their town.

And the water rates will reflect that decision.

City Secretary Stefani Wright said the minimum charge for water is going up $9.50 effective October 1.

For example, a residence that uses up to 2,000 gallons of water in a month currently would pay $17.70 for water. Beginning October 1, the same residence will have to pay $27.20.

Under the new plan, if a residence uses 2,001 to 10,000 gallons of water in a month, they will be charged an additional $4 for every 1,000 gallons they use between 2,000 and 10,000.

If a residence uses 10,001 to 25,000 gallons of water in a month, they will pay an additional $5.50 for every 1,000 gallons they use between 10,000 and 25,000.

For a residence that uses more than 25,000 gallons of water in a month, they will pay $7 for every 1,000 gallons they use beyond 25,000.

Wright said that currently, residents are charged $4 for every 1,000 gallons of water they use from 2,000 to 25,000 and $5.50 for every 1,000 gallons of water they use that is more than 25,000.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 gallons of water each month is the average use for a four-person household, she said.

And a residence that uses 9,000 gallons of water in a month will pay $55.20 (9,000 minus 2,000, 7 multiplied by 4 , plus $27.20).

Even if the City Council had gone with a 10-year contract with Tyler, City Manager Ronny Fite said, the rate increase would have been the same.

The main difference between the two contracts is that 10-year contract did not offer an “early out” option and the 25-year contract does.

Fite said a draft is being looked at for raw water in regards to the Lake Striker project, which would include a treatment plant, pump station and transmission line.
He expects the Lake Striker issue to be posed to White-house residents in the future.

With the new contract, Fite said Whitehouse will pay Tyler roughly $231,000 each year.

Based on a 36-hour pump test, six wells should be able to pump a total of two to three million gallons of water each day when the wells are at 75 percent capacity, he said.

Fite said Whitehouse uses an average of 500,000 gallons of water each day in the winter and 1.2 to 1.6 million gallons of water each day during the summer months.