Falmouth Select Board Reviews Water Rate Changes

May 9, 2023

FALMOUTH – At the recent Falmouth Select Board meeting, water rate changes were a top priority of discussion by town officials.

Peter McConarty, Falmouth Director of Public Works, opened a presentation on water rate changes which Michael Schrader, Principal Engineer at Tighe & Bond, then took over to explain current and future rates.

“People are billed either twice a year or four times a year depending on the size of their meter, and the fee that they pay or the charge includes a usage allowance that’s based on that meter size. Sort of one way to think about it is like a water card, it gives you so much usage and you pay for it, but you pay for it whether you use it all or not,” said Schrader.

Schrader said about half of the customers in the region use less than half of their allowance, while the remainder of the population uses large amounts of water.

“Falmouth’s residential gallons per day per capita is at 64 gallons per day as of the last report. The state targets 65 gallons as an upper threshold for water usage, if you go above that it’s wasteful usage,” Schrader said.

The rate structure changes they are proposing would base charges on meter sizes and all meter usage would be paid for as there would be no allowances.

This change would ensure residents are not paying for water they are not using while encouraging water conservation.