Debate Over Water Panel Out of Control : Board Overseeing Rates May Require Fine-Tuning but There Is No Need for a New One

This thing about testing Mayor Richard Riordan’s commitment to the San Fernando Valley and preserving “Valley interests” can go too far. On one issue it’s already out of control. We refer to City Councilman Hal Bernson’s recent request that Riordan disband a blue ribbon panel on water rates. The reason? Bernson says that the panel had “preconceived and prejudicial attitudes” against those aforementioned Valley interests. Because of that, Bernson says, it won’t give a fair hearing to Valley residents who are upset over their water bills. Come on.

The complaints involved the Department of Water and Power’s two-tiered rate system that took effect in February. Its first, and lower, tier is for customers who use less water, while the higher tier is for heavy consumers. It only kicks in when a customer uses more than twice the amount of water of the average DWP customer. Still, it has set off a political firestorm of protest in the Valley, where the summers tend to be hotter and where the lawns tend to be larger and more thirsty.

To assuage some of that disgruntlement and to consider the effects of the relatively new rate system, Riordan had already reconvened the 17-member Blue-Ribbon Committee on Water Rate Restructuring. We note here that this was exactly what Bernson--and council member Laura Chick--wanted Riordan to do, but it wasn’t good enough. Then, the mayor took the additional step of adding four Valley residents to the panel. Bernson’s latest suggestion--that the whole panel had to be replaced--amounted to an extreme overreaction to the situation.

Perhaps you will recall, by the way, that we viewed the new rate system as a major step forward in local efforts to conserve water and as a vast improvement over a previously cumbersome rate structure. But conservation was the issue of predominant concern. The new rate system was meant to reward residential and business customers who use less of this region’s most precious commodity. It was meant to penalize those who use more, and it was part of the original Blue-Ribbon panel’s recommendations.

The mayor has now told the panel that its deliberations on the water rates must be fair, and he has urged that it conduct another meeting in the northwest Valley so that residents can air their grievances. That’s fine. It is also possible that the plan requires some fine-tuning, precisely because of those homeowners with large lots in the area’s hottest locations. But we do not need another blue ribbon panel, and the basic premise of the water rate structure remains fundamentally sound and should not be radically altered. Those who use significantly more water ought to pay significantly more for it.