January 30, 2003 Student
News
Leavitt
to Raise Water Rates to Encourage Conservation
From the Hard
News Cafe (1/29/03)
 Utah
needs to take drastic steps to prepare for the future, Gov.
Mike Leavitt said Tuesday night at Utah State University.
A crowd of 200 listened as Leavitt outline his policy for equalizing
growth and natural resources in Utah.
"It’s a function of balance," Leavitt said.
He said we need to meet our social obligations while taking
care of the environment. As Utah continues to grow, natural
resources will become more of an issue, especially water.
"We are very clearly moving toward a situation where conservation
will be key," he said.
Leavitt suggested raising water rates to encourage conservation
while financially providing for growth. Utah has the third lowest
water rates in the nation among household consumers, but is
second highest in water consumption.
"That’s a public policy that says consume, consume,
consume," Leavitt said. "We need to adopt public policies
that are more sensitive to the need to conserve."
Leavitt also said he plans to restructure state sales tax.
Eliminating the use of tax revenues to subsidize water will
further encourage conservation, he said.
"Water is such a valuable resource and should be funded
by a more reliable source than sales tax," Leavitt said.
"Water funds should not be in competition with what also
funds education."
Story and photo by Toby G. Hayes
utah
state today/archives/January
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