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For the record: Cool water

Posted on June 15, 2009 by Staff

Like many other local agencies, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority is trying to figure out just how to tighten its belt and still fulfill its obligations to its customers.

The utility is poised to increase rates, and board members predict rate increases in the years ahead as well.

OWASA has sought to trim the size of the increases by holding down capital costs, a move that is not always popular, as witnessed Monday night at the Chapel Hill Town Council meeting.

There, council members, OWASA board members and neighbors of the utility’s wastewater treatment plant debated how to finish a long-awaited odor-abatement project.

Strong voices were heard on all sides, including Braxton Foushee, Carrboro’s representative on the OWASA board, who said he could not support millions more for the project knowing that many residents were struggling or unable to pay their water bills.

This example of yet another difficult trade-off is atypical, however, because there is a way for each of us to address the problem that worries Foushee and so many others.

It’s called Taste of Hope.

If you’re an OWASA customer, there’s a box on your water bill that allows you to contribute to a fund to help people unable to pay their bills. It’s one of the easiest and most economical ways to make a difference.

With all that going for it, and with the need for neighbors to help neighbors even more important than ever, you’d think Taste of Hope would be seeing a surge of enrollment.

Stubbornly, and sadly, only about 10 percent of the customers in this mostly affluent, well-watered community have bothered to sign up.

This is a call to the other 90 percent to take a moment and step up. Check the box and support Taste of Hope.

If you need more information, please visit owasa.org/right/TasteOfHope.aspx

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