Harrah considers water hookup ordinance

William Libbrecht disconnected his home from the Harrah water system and started using his already-existing well when the town raised his water rates. The town has no law against residents using existing wells for water but is considering a law which would change that. (PHIL FEROLITO/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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HARRAH When water rates increased by $2 a month last year, William Libbrecht said, enough. He disconnected from Harrahs municipal water and hooked up to his existing well.

He had first suggested the town lower by $1 the basic sewer rate of $35 a month and only increase the water rate by $1. The town didnt buy it.

Libbrecht likens the rate increases to tax increases.

Unless you can do something to show me that you are increasing the tax base instead of rasing taxes, then I dont want the service, the 45-year-old said at his home on a recent afternoon.

While this rural town or roughly 645 people doesnt allow drilling new wells for potable water, it has no ordinance preventing residents from pulling out of the towns municipal water system and using an existing well.

Now that other residents are interested in making the same switch as Libbrecht, the Town Council wants to change that. The council is mulling over whether to devise an ordinance prohibiting such a move common among most cities or assessing those who want to disconnect a monthly fee of half the amount of the basic water rate to help fund the systems upkeep. But before making a decision, the council wants to look further into the matter, Mayor Barbara Harrer said.

The council wants to look at ordinances from other towns first, she said.

Most cities have ordinances requiring residents to connect to the municipal water system, but state law only requires residents within cities to use municipal sewer services, not water, said Jim Doherty, legal adviser to the Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington in Seattle.

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Harrah considers water hookup ordinance