Some Orange leaders want citrus growers to get free water forever

Dozens of citrus growers who use treated wastewater to irrigate crops and fend off freezes already get it for a bargain rate or pay nothing, but now some Orange County commissioners want to make sure they always get it free.

Orange leaders have agreed to explore talks with Orlando, their partners in the treatment program, to drop the current 19-cents-per-1,000-gallons price to zero for citrus growers. It would take about a 7 percent price increase for other residential and commercial users of reclaimed water to make up about $206,000 in lost annual revenue by 2014, officials say.

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