A private Baton Rouge water company is suing to stop groundwater regulators from putting a metering system in place to monitor Baton Rouge-area industrial water users.
The Baton Rouge Water Co. filed the lawsuit last month in the 19th Judicial District, listing the Capital Area Groundwater Conservation Commission (CAGWC) as a defendant. The commission has said that it wants to independently determine the amount of water industrial groundwater users are pumping out of the Southern Hills Aquifer in order to prevent excessive water use and saltwater intrusion.
But the water company says the plan is redundant and will cost water users millions of dollars.
The lawsuit argues the CAGWC’s plans were not legally adopted in accordance with its emergency rule and will cost water users millions because pumping charges will rise more than threefold, from $20 per 1 million gallons of water to $65.
“The CAGWC has entered into a contract with Sustainability Partners for the purpose of installing the meters contemplated in the emergency rule,” the complaint states. “However, the sonic metering systems proposed to be installed are not suitable for accurately measuring the volumes of water produced.”
Attorney Brett Furr, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the water company, said most water users are already self-reporting the amounts they pump to regulators. Moreover, there’s nothing unusual about companies self-reporting their data.
““We know that our systems are accurate, and we have every reason to believe the industrial users’ systems are accurate as well,” Furr told the Louisiana Record. “... (The commission is) spending $15 million to get information they already have.”
The commission’s plans to install and operate new meters simply doesn’t make sense, he said.
“The state appropriated some money to do this, and then, for whatever reason, the groundwater commission didn't want to take the appropriation,” Furr said. “They wanted to charge the consumers to do it.”
The lawsuit seeks to have the court declare the commission’s use of its emergency rule and the fee increase adopted in December of last year invalid.
“Due to the hasty and improvident adoption of the emergency rules, CAGWC has not fully investigated the potential adverse effects on well owners caused by the independent metering system,” the lawsuit says.
The commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.