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79 Chair Cihacek noted there is a seasonal shift in the summer, which is most likely 80 due to irrigation. It is unclear how high it goes, but it is clear it is more than 30,000 81 gallons. 82 83 Member Seigler referred to the graphs on page 32 of the meeting packet and noted 84 less water has been used for the last three years. There is not a need to implement 85 a change in the water rate structure. 86 87 Mr. Freihammer stated some of the usage also depends on how much rain they have 88 had as well. 89 90 Member Wozniak disagreed with Member Seigler. He referred to the analysis on 91 page 28 of the meeting packet and stated they have 2,200 households that use less 92 than 500 gallons. It does not indicate how much water they are actually using. The 93 30,000 -gallon category has 382 in the summer, but they used the same amount of 94 water than the 2,200 households. The over 30,000 gallons category contains about 95 900 households and they are only paying $2.70 per gallon, but they are using four 96 times as much water. That rate does not encourage conservation. 97 98 Mr. Culver noted they are pay $2.70 per 1,000 gallons. Studies were done in the 99 early 2000s with higher rates, and they saw that even with higher rates there was 100 not a dramatic shift in water consumption. If they really want to use the cost of 101 the water as incentive to use less, there has to be a substantial savings. 102 103 Member Seigler stated the data for July, August, and September for 2013 in the 104 over 30,000 -gallon category has 1,219 users and in 2015 is had 894 users. This 105 shows that one quarter of the users are no longer in that category. 106 107 Chair Cihacek noted this could be a demographic shift of going from larger 108 households to smaller households. Some of it is seasonal, and unless they are going 109 to dramatically distance the rates, it is not a strong enough incentive. The difference 110 between the current rates for under 30,000 gallons and over 30,000 gallons is 20 111 cents. They could increase the rates for people who are dramatically over 30,000 112 gallons, but they do not know the number of people who are at that level. They 113 currently see a usage dropping and can anticipate that to continue. They must 114 consider if the tier structure or pricing makes sense based on consumption. 115 116 Member Seigler stated they need to determine if there is a problem. 117 118 Chair Cihacek responded there is a problem in that the quality and capacity of water 119 will decrease over time as needs increase. It is not an immediate problem but may 120 be one in 10 or 20 years. 121 122 Member Misra stated there is a danger in looking at only three years as trends. 123 Page 3 of 16