Reclaimed Water Metered Pricing and Its Effect upon Water and Sewer Rates

This paper describes the evaluative process that the City of Clearwater went through to determine that metering reclaimed water, and setting higher reclaimed water rates to provide a greater level of self sufficiency, reversed a number of dynamics that were going to have negative long-term consequences, while allowing a reduction in the annual rate increases required for the City's water and sewer rates. It also demonstrates the interactive financial modeling process utilized by the City's consultants, Burton & Associates, to quantify the financial consequences of the reclaimed water rate decision alternatives available to the City.