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45 rates: (1) Wasted water that goes down the sewers resulting from an overflow of the City's parks and lawn sprinkler system; (2) Contamination in the creek due to the presence of old tires and furniture which have not been cleaned out; and (3) Absence of any report on the depth of Pleasanton's well water. Mr. Mercer explained that the City services customers with water purchased from Zone 7. He stated that when asked about the garbage in the creek, Zone 7 indicated that it would prefer to spend its money on things other than cleaning the creek, which would be washed out by the first big rainfall. He added that with regard to the depth of the City's well water, Zone 7 indicated that the City has an eight-year supply of underground water. He then asked staff to look into the number of hours the City's water sprinklers run. Ms. Acosta commented that water charges are based on individual consumption such that no user would be charged for another's indiscriminate or inappropriate handling. She added that Staff would be bringing a report to Council at its March meeting regarding water conservation. Mr. Larry Moyer, 2142 Goldcrest Circle, inquired if water charges can be based on household size or actual water use rather than on a fixed scale, for example, of 100 gallons versus 500 gallons, to give some consideration to smaller households. He further inquired why the cross-town sewer project was paid for by sewer fees rather than the general tax fund. Mr. Mercer replied that the cross-town sewer project is a capital improvement which is part of the sewer service charge. He added that the increase in water rates would be discussed at the next Council meeting. Ms. Rossi clarified that the Cross-Town Sewer Interceptor Project is not an expansion project and is not considered a user charge because all users would benefit from it. She added that the sewer fund is operated as an enterprise fund that is totally self- supported by user fees without any kind of tax support. Mr. Butler stated that the logic behind why water and sewer services are not supported by the General Fund is the fact that certain types of government expenditures, like police and fire protection, benefit people equally, unlike water and sewer uses, which can be directly measured and paid for on the basis of the amount used. Mr. Tarver commented that since the cross-town sewer project provided an additional capacity for growth occurring on the other - 11 - 2-19-91