Raleigh's ReUse plan

The idea of supplying less expensive reuse water from Raleigh's wastewater plant for irrigation and large water users sounds innovative (news story, April 22), but the benefit to utility ratepayers of subsidizing an expensive new water infrastructure is unclear. Current plans call for 60 percent of the water to be for irrigation, with no lines to be extended into already-developed neighborhoods.

Raleigh's planned tiered water rates should provide adequate utility funding while creating new market incentives to conserve and innovate. Those rates should be coupled with incentives for large and small users to capture water onsite and to reuse it in ways that reduce both water consumption and stormwater runoff. We need to be sure that Raleigh's ReUse Water System encourages private enterprise solutions such as these, rather than competing with them.

For the largest ReUse water users, priority should be given to customers who pay to extend ReUse lines or who generate substantial tax base and jobs.

Let's make sure that plans for Raleigh's ReUse Water System adequately address all of the following:

* Improving water quality downstream.

* Promoting rather than competing with private enterprise solutions.

* Reducing the need for multimillion-dollar utility ratepayer subsidies.

Russ Stephenson

Raleigh

(The writer is an at-large member of the Raleigh City Council.)