2.  If you are a Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District customer, you are living in an environmentally sensitive and difficult to serve area.

3.  The District has a relatively small, mostly residential customer base; currently about 4,000 customers. The District’s rates are based on cost of service. Other than the occasional grant or low-cost loan for specific infrastructure projects, the District receives no outside funding. All costs are borne by our customers.

4. The mostly forested, steep slopes of the District’s service area require extensive infrastructure, particularly for pumping and transporting sewage out of the watershed and to the City of Bellingham’s wastewater treatment plant located at Post Point in the Fairhaven area.

5.  In addition to paying the District’s costs for providing water and sewer service, District customers must also pay their fair share of the City of Bellingham’s costs for processing their sewage. The City of Bellingham’s sewage treatment bill accounts for roughly 1/4 of the District’s annual operating budget. Sewer disposal costs and a share of the City’s facility upgrades and maintenance costs to the District are based upon the volume of sewage that is sent to the wastewater treatment plant.

6. Much of the District’s sewer system was originally installed in the early to mid-1970s. Infrastructure such as pump stations and transmission lines wear out over time and must be refurbished, repaired, or replaced as needed.

7. The District owns, operates, and maintains 28 sewer pump stations. Engineers estimate that sewer pump stations have an effective life of around 30 years.

8. The District also owns, operates, and maintains 82 miles of sewage collection and transmission lines. Depending upon different factors such as the types of material that the pipes are made of, engineers estimate that sewer transmission lines have an effective life of roughly 100 years. Transmission lines are also vulnerable to breakage and plugging from causes other than normal wear and tear.

9. Setting utility rates is a complex issue. In setting the rates, the District’s Board of Commissioners not only have to be sure that there will be enough money to pay for the day to day operations of the District, but also to cover future infrastructure upgrades, repairs, and replacements. Because rate setting is such a complex issue, the District has periodic rate studies performed by a rate consultant.

10. The District’s Commissioners have established a rate schedule that typically increases annually to accommodate projected capital improvement and operating costs into the future. Revenues and expenditures are forecasted utilizing the following key assumptions:

• General inflation is estimated at 3% per year.
• Labor Cost inflation is estimated at 4% per year.
• Employee benefit cost inflation is estimated at 6% per year.
• General construction costs are inflated at 4% per year.

11. A system replacement (depreciation) funding policy is currently in place to fund annually from rates an amount equal to annual depreciation expenses.

Please visit http://lwwsd.org/billing/rates/ for information about rates.

View our flyer about Fats, Oils and Grease, or “FOG,” to find out!

FOG Flyer 02-06-12

Please visit http://lwwsd.org/billing/rates/ for our new rate information.

For information on rates for larger meter sizes, please call the District office at 734-9224, Monday through Thursday, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District is hosting a food drive for the Bellingham Food Bank during the months of November and December.  Drop your non-perishable donations off at the District’s office Monday through Thursday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.  Non-perishable food donations will be accepted through December 31, 2011.

WISH LIST:

Canned tuna, meats, soups, fruit, vegetables, juice

Peanut Butter, pasta, rice, powdered milk

Baby food, baby wipes,

Baby diapers; most needed size is 3 to 6 months

Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District would like to encourage voluntary water conservation, and there are many simple ways to help in this effort. By installing water saving shower heads, kitchen and bathroom faucets and low flow toilets, an average residence could save 25% or more water each day than a residence without.

The District requests customers irrigate on a voluntary watering schedule: even numbered addresses to only water outside on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and odd numbered addresses to water on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with no outdoor watering on Mondays. Water may seem like an unlimited resource in the Pacific Northwest, but there is a limit, and it can only be plentiful for all future generations if we all do our part in conserving this precious resource.