The Guam Water Authority says it has no plans to increase water rates for residents despite a US Navy decision to double the cost of water it supplies.
The Navy plans to double water rates starting next month from 2 US dollars and 9 cents per 1,000 gallons to 4 dollars and 5 cents.
The rate hike means that the GWA, which buys four million gallons of water from the Navy each day, is set to spend nearly 6 million US dollars a year on Navy water.
But a GWA spokesperson, Heidi Ballendorf, says the residents won't be asked to meet the increase in their operating costs.
"We don't have plans right now to do any rate increase. We just implemented one on September 1st. So everybody is paying a bit more... That rate increase which we just got has nothing to do with Navy water and increases like that. In fact, the rate increase that we just received and was approved goes to pay our debt service because of money that we borrowed to put new projects in the ground."
Heidi Ballendorf
