Deal near for Robbins water system

The price for better water could be about $50 a month in Robbins if a private company buys the village's battered water system.

Officials with Golden State Water Co. have outlined plans to privatize Water Works District No. 1, where residents two weeks ago rejected Sutter County's proposed rate hike to nearly $100 a month.

If the county and the state Public Utilities Commission sign off on the buyout, the company could take control of the Robbins water network in early 2010.

A county committee including Robbins residents will consider the buyout in early December, according to Daniel Peterson, county chief of water resources. County and state approvals would extend the process to between 12 and 18 months, according to Roland Tanner, a Golden State Water vice president.

The company's proposed water charge would more than double Robbins' current rate, which the district has not changed in more than a decade.

Tanner said most of the savings to allow the lower water charges would come from sharing employees with the company's water network in Arden and Rancho Cordova, which has about 16,000 customers.

As rates have stayed flat, pipes and equipment have deteriorated, leaving many homeowners unable to drink or wash with their iron-laced tap water. Arsenic in the water also has forced local firefighters to avoid using hydrants except in major emergencies, said Frank Alonso, a Robbins farmer and member of the water committee.

Sutter County estimates the water district runs an annual $120,000 deficit and owes the county $168,000 in advances for maintenance work — a nearly unworkable burden for a tiny district with fewer than 100 customers.

The water district's rate increases, which also would have boosted monthly sewage treatment costs from $32 to more than $77, sparked an outcry among residents. More than 60 percent of district customers in the farming town of about 400 formally protested the hikes, killing the plan.

Golden State Water's proposed $50 monthly rate matches a counteroffer residents made to the county's failed rate hike; Alonso called it the best prospect for finally upgrading Robbins water services.

"The county can't afford to fix this water system, and we have a lot of lower-income and elderly people," he said Tuesday. "It would be good for us and good for the county. Hopefully they'll check out the proposal and we can get on our way."

American States Water Co. is the parent of Golden State Water Co., American States Utility Services Inc. and Chaparral City Water Co.

Through its subsidiaries, the company serves approximately 255,000 customers in California and more than 13,000 customers in Arizona.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune at 749-4708 or hyune@appealdemocrat.com.