“We’ve been in Bay Point since the 1960s, and we plan on being there forever.” He said the company has no interest in being acquired.Īmid similar concerns about quality and rates, the Contra Costa Water District about 13 years ago came close to taking over Golden State - then known as California Cities Water Co. “We take any question or concern to heart, and we try to address any concern the public has,” Schubert said.
A division of the PUC deemed those future projects unnecessary the company and the commission will work out their differences before a judge issues a decision in October about a new rate. Schubert said the company already has completed projects that maintain and lower trihalomethane levels - such as installing pipeline to help move water faster through the system and replacing smaller, older water mains with new ones - and had proposed three more projects over the next three years that would help. Bay Point is the only community in the Contra Costa Water District served by a private, investor-owned supplier. Water rates in Bay Point are higher than those of neighboring communities, company officials have said, because the company’s approximately 5,000 customers there must bear all facilities and operating costs. The chlorination byproducts potentially cause some cancers and an increased risk of miscarriage during the first trimester of pregnancy.īay Point residents pay the most of any community in Central or East Contra Costa for water that contains the highest level of trihalomethanes among communities in those regions. Residents have asked that the company hold off on raising rates at all - given that about a third of the community lives in poverty - or, if it opts for an increase, to do more to lower the level of trihalomethanes in the water. “It’s distressing to us when there are pockets of the community that are displeased with us for one reason or another.” “Nobody has expressed dissatisfaction with us in quite a while,” he said. The comments surprised Paul Schubert, Golden State’s northern district manager, who reiterated that the water meets all state and federal standards for safety and thinks the company has had a good relationship with Bay Point residents for a long time. His comments were met with loud clapping and echoed by several other speakers, including fellow resident and Councilman Attila Gabor, who presented the judge presiding over the hearing with 66 signatures of people he said oppose the rate proposal resident Patricia Sousa, who said she wanted a new service provider to be sought and resident Carmen Montufar, who said she wanted Bay Point to “get a better provider.” “I would propose instead the local government use its power of eminent domain and take control of the pipeline and pass the control onto a local elected and controlled body so our local community is taken into consideration.” “We have seen cosmetic repairs, but given the past increase and the lack of quality improvement it would seem unwise to hand over even more profit to their for-profit board of directors,” said Steve Hoagland, a Bay Point resident and chairman of the community’s municipal advisory council. would be a better option for the community. Upset that the community’s private water supplier continues to want to charge more for a resource many people say they are afraid to drink, some Bay Point residents and local leaders are wondering whether it makes sense for some other entity to be their provider.Ī third of the 18 people who spoke at last week’s Public Utilities Commission hearing - for a proposed rate increase of 14.6 percent over three years, with a 15 percent decrease for those who qualify - called on local officials to explore whether a service provider other than Golden State Water Co.
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