Over the last two weeks we have had a Lismore City Council meeting and a Rous County Council meeting, both were approving budgets for 2021/22.

A question that always came to mind was "why are our water rates so much higher than our neighbouring councils when the purchase price is the same from Rous County Council?"

In this instance we are talking about the water consumption charge not the fixed fee for the availablilty of water to our properties.

Rous charge all councils a Bulk Water fee of $2 per kilolitre, their retail clients are charged at $2.53.

Lismore City Council (LCC) charge each resident $4.09 per kilolitre which is increasing to $4.44 from July 1 as part of the approved budget for next financial year.

For comparison, Ballina charges residents $2.35 per kilolitre for the first 350 kilolitres per annum, Byron $2.80, Richmond Valley $2.57 for the first 200kl then $3.92.

So, why do we pay so much more?

According to a Council spokesperson, Lismore has the second oldest water infrastructure in NSW – Sydney’s is only slightly older.

"Combined with our reactive soils in the lower areas of Lismore, this means we get more mains breaks and have to spend more on maintenance and replacing our old pipes as our infrastructure ages. This is why our water charges are higher than other Councils with newer infrastructure and less problematic soil types."

What most people do not know, is that all of the money collected from water rates is quarantined and can only be spent on maintaining our water infrastructure. It cannot be put into the General Fund to help council an a deficient part of their budget.

Of course, you can lower your water bill by reducing your water consumption. Installing more more water efficient appliances or hardware in their homes will also help reduce consumption.