Water Costs on Long Island
To understand the cost of householdwater on Long Island, Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) made a comprehensive analysis to compare resident’s costs for water in each of the 48 water districts throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties, 11 districts in Suffolk County and 37 districts in Nassau County. What CCE found was a high degree of fluctuation in water rates throughout Long Island due to varying fee structures.
What was discovered is that a confusing and widely variable network of costs for water are used. Many water companies have additional costs on resident’s tax bills, some charge per 1,000 gallons of water, others are calculated by cubic feet of water. Some suppliers have flat costs, others have tiered costs. Some water disticts do not produce their own water. Various factors which influence water rates include water privatization and additional taxes on your water bill.
Here is a list of some local and Suffolk County Water Costs:
Least Expensive Yearly Approximate Water Costs
Greenlawn Water District - $148.00
Jericho Water District - $195.89
Riverhead Water District - $224.92
Village of Sands Point - $234.00
Freeport Village - $249.60
Town of Hempstead Department of Water
(Lido Point Lookout) - $264.98
City of Glen Cove - $283.20
Village of Bayville - $295.80
Village of Mineola - $297.40
South Huntington Water District $315.78
Most Expensive Yearly Approximate Water Costs
New York American Water Service
(North Shore- Sea Cliff) - $1,124.52
Shelter Island Heights - $1,090.00
New York American Water Service Area 1 - $936.12
East Williston Water District - $814.80
City of Long Beach - $765.78
New York American Water Service
(Merrick) - $719.28
Village of Plandome - $680.40
Albertson Water District - $658.05
Locust Valley Water District (Inside the district) - $638.98
Water Authority of Western Nassau County - $617.36
Other yearly water costs locally are:
Oyster Bay $423.50
Westbury - $424.94
Comprehensive financial analysis was conducted, exploring cryptic fee structuring and decoding convoluted tiered systems in order to determine which water districts are the most and least expensive and which encourage water conservation. Information from each water district on Long Island was accumulated from the most recent available data on water districts’ websites and annual drinking water quality reports, with any additional information gathered through phone calls to the water district offices.
Adrienne Esposito, executive director at CCE said the public has a right to know about the true and total cost of water. Finding out what water districts charge is actually convoluted, cryptic and obscure. Understanding water’s costs helps to create incentive participation in conservation efforts as well as promote behavioral changes to protect water from pollutants. This is a crucial part of protecting our environment and ensuring a viable water supply for future generations. Remember, Long Island is a sole source aquifer, meaning 100% of our drinking water comes from underground aquifers.
Citizens Campaign has made conclusions and recommendations:
1-Consolidate water disticts: Water districts that do not produce their own water and districts serving less than 10,000 people should merge with neighboring water districts. The Suffolk County Water Authority provides water to 1.2 million people and their effective operation is beneficial to the public’s wallets and our health. SCWA is able to ensure drinking water is treated with state-of-the-art technology and reaches our homes at an affordable price. Consolidation of water districts would allow more Long Island residents to obtain these benefits. 2-Establish a uniform rate structure with transparency, 3-Implement more incentives for conservation, 4-Educate the public on tiered water rate systems, 5-Ban private water districts. For the complete report and graphs go to https://www.citizenscampaign.org/