Tiered pricing motivates Californians to conserve water

Excerpt

CALIFORNIA'S Broadview Water District implemented an increasing block-rate pricing plan in October 1988 to motivate the use of water conservation practices. The goal of these practices: to reduce the volume of drain water collected beneath farm fields. The program's success was to be measured by observed changes in irrigation practices and reductions in water deliveries and collected drain water (17). The positive results obtained in subsequent years prompted the district's board of directors in 1990 to adopt tiered pricing as a permanent district policy.

Irrigation and drainage issues

The Broadview Water District is located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, near Firebaugh, California. The district delivers high-quality surface water to 18 hns, ranging from 160 acres to 1,280 acres.

Broadview has a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for 27,000 acre-feet of water per year and must recover all water costs and operational expenses from farmers in the district. The price of water historically has been determined …