Water rates to increase by 9% 12/7/12 K.Agee

As of October 2012 our water rate increased by 9% for the City’s fiscal year (October 1^st thru September 30^th). This is mostly the result of some new hardware required to let Garland and other cities get water from Lake Texoma without the risk of spreading the invasive species of “Zebra Mussels”. These little hard-shelled nuisances originated from Russia, but have come to America and are thriving without much native competition. Not only do they remove a lot of nutrients from our lakes, but they also congregate near the inlets where we take in the water that we homeowners use. It’s not uncommon for them to plug up the intakes so bad that divers have to go down and break up the clogs!

The North Texas Municipal Water District is charging its member cities 14% more across the board, so somehow we got a break by only seeing a 9% increase in the coming months.

In related news, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and other agencies are begging boaters to take precautions to stop the spread of these creatures, since their microscopic eggs can survive for up to a week in live-wells, on the boats, ropes & anchors, or anything else that has been in the waters of an infected lake like Texoma.