MEDIA ADVISORY
Dec. 2, 2019

Contact:
Christopher Benoit, Attorney, TRLA (915) 585-5100; cbenoit@trla.org
Nancy Nusser, Communications Director, TRLA (410) 934-9588; nnusser@trla.org

Mesa del Norte Residents to Announce Water Settlement in Dec. 5 Press Conference

Agreement with Fabens Water District will ease burden of high water bills

EL PASO, Texas – Residents of the Mesa del Norte subdivision will hold a Dec. 5 press conference to announce the successful settlement of their appeal to combat exorbitant water rates. The settlement will lower their base water rate to an affordable level.

“I spent as much as $130 a month on water, and the expense meant my family often had to choose between water and food,” said Elsa Rivera, who will speak at the press conference. “We have fought long and hard to be charged fair rates. Finally, we will get relief.”

The press conference will take place Dec. 5 at 11 am in the El Paso office of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (1331 El Paso Ave., 79901), which represents Mesa del Norte residents.

Mesa del Norte residents, who live outside the Fabens Water District but are still served by it, have suffered since 2011 with water rates far higher than those within the district. Working with State Senator Jose Rodriguez and State Representative Mary González, residents fought to get the rates reduced. Frustrated by continued inaction, they appealed to Texas’s Public Utility Commission and won their settlement in November.

Under the new agreement, provisions to lower rates will be put into effect by the Fabens District in January 2020. The measures will lower base water rates from $96.16 to $78.42 per month for out-of-district ratepayers served by the Fabens District, including the Mesa del Norte residents. The $78.42 rate for Mesa del Norte residents is still higher than it is for customers within the Fabens District, but the gap is narrower. The reduction brings the differential down from 75 percent to 40 percent, and the lower gap will be frozen for four years. Mesa del Norte residents, and other out-of-district customers, will also get a one-time $160 credit from the Fabens District to help offset the high rates they were charged between January and May of 2019.

Further, the Lower Valley Water District (LVWD) will give the Mesa del Norte residents a continuing $50 per month credit. That will bring their monthly base water rate down from $78.42 to $28.42. (The LVWD District, where Mesa del Norte is located, has agreed to pay the credit while it is augmenting its facilities so that it can supply residents with water and wastewater services.)

“Mesa del Norte residents have fought for years against back-breaking water rates,” said TRLA attorney Christopher Benoit, who represents the residents. “They organized, stayed united, and built pressure on the water districts until their voices were heard. The settlement now is their hard-earned reward.”

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services to about 23,000 low-income Texans in 68 southwestern counties. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and access to justice for low-income Texans by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.