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Division of Drinking Water staff walk water systems through EAR section 8 rate reporting
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Summary
Staff from the Division of Drinking Water held a webinar on completing section 8 of the electronic annual report, explaining rate-structure selection, unit-of-measure choices, the EAR auto-calculation to a per-600-cubic-foot standard, and assistance options and deadlines.
Staff from the Division of Drinking Water led a webinar to guide water-system reporters through section 8 of the electronic annual report (EAR), focusing on how to complete the rate table, choose the correct unit of measure and report charges, income and affordability.
Rachel Skaleman, the session’s subject-matter expert with the needs analysis unit, said the data help the agency implement Senate Bill 200’s reporting requirements: "Senate bill, 200 requires water systems to report information on their technical, managerial, and financial capacity," she said. Skaleman walked participants through common rate structures — flat rates, fixed base plus uniform usage, tiered variable usage, and hybrid variable base and usage models — and emphasized selecting the billing unit (for many systems, 100 cubic feet/HCF) so the EAR can standardize comparisons.
Rachel explained the EAR’s standardization step: the system uses submitted rate tables to auto-calculate a comparable cost per 600 cubic feet so officials can compare across systems; "600 cubic feet of water is, about, 4,488 gallons," she said. She also noted a field where users can provide an alternate amount when the auto-calculation does not reflect local billing practices.
Jonathan Swady of the EAR customer service team outlined assistance routes for systems needing help: portal guidance and FAQs, an EAR customer-service request form on the EAR portal, a 'contact us' link, and an email address. He reminded attendees that "the application deadline is due, March 1" for third-party technical-assistance applications and encouraged use of the form rather than email for fuller information.
Wendy Killu, the team’s logistics lead, reiterated calendar dates: third-party assistance applications are due March 1 and EAR submissions are due April 1, and she announced the next brown-bag training the following Thursday at 10:00.
During a question-and-answer segment, attendees raised practical reporting scenarios. James Woody described mutual water-company assessments billed by property share rather than consumption; Rachel said the situation can be "dicey" for section 8 mapping and offered to follow up offline to determine whether to record such assessments in section 8a, 8b or another location in the EAR. When asked whether systems that do not charge tenants should still report, Skaleman said those systems generally proceed to section 8b to enter income and expenditures only. For midyear rate changes, she advised reporters to use the rate in place for the majority of the reporting year and to record rate-change details and supporting documents where prompted.
The webinar closed with a reminder to use the EAR portal’s help resources, to submit questions via the portal form when possible, and to register for upcoming training sessions. Organizers provided the customer-service email shown during the session for follow-up (dw-er@waterboards.ca.gov).
The Division of Drinking Water said staff are available to review specific rate tables offline and encouraged systems to submit questions early to meet assistance deadlines.
