The movement to stop rising water rates in American Canyon has sprung a leak.

A petition to prevent the city’s proposed water rate hike failed because more than half of the collected signatures were invalid, Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur told the American Canyon City Council Tuesday.

Of the 776 collected signatures, 460 signatures were invalid, he said — either because those who signed were not registered to vote in American Canyon or because personal information was not provided properly.

A second petition filed to prevent sewer rate increases will almost certainly fail as well, added Tuteur.

The American Canyon City Council approved the rate increases last fall at the recommendation of the city’s Blue Ribbon Water Committee on Water Resources, chaired by Vice Mayor Joan Bennett and City Councilwoman Cindy Coffey. Two petitions — one against the water rate hike and the other against the sewer rate hikes — were filed in mid-January with American Canyon City Clerk Dorothy Roadman. The city then asked Tuteur to review the signatures’ validity.

Tuteur said that the process has become highly complex.

“As I always say to people, ‘you need to contact an attorney or a campaign consultant,’” he said.

This kind of petition failure “is not an unusual occurrence,” Tuteur said.

Longtime American Canyon resident Paulette Freskan-Griffin, who led the petition drive, blamed herself for the failure.

“I’m the one that did it,” she told the City Council. “I’m sorry that I messed it up and took everybody’s time.”

On Wednesday, Freskan-Griffin explained she pre-wrote “American Canyon” in the block next to the signatures — against election rules. In some cases, elderly people asked her to fill out their addresses for them.

In any case, the people who signed the petition did nothing illegal, Freskan-Griffin stressed.

Freskan-Griffin, who said the city spends too much money on consultants — an assessment City Council members dispute, said she plans to do “nothing” in response, except to continue to watch the council.

Marianne Young of American Canyon, who volunteered for the petition drive, said she expects to pay an extra $10 to $15 a month for water. She now pays about $100 per billing period, said the mother of five.

The rate increases are “going to hurt the bigger families,” she said.

City Manager Rich Ramirez on Tuesday said the new rates will be effective sometime in March and will show up in April’s bills, he said.

Under the new schedule, the average household will pay $27.76 a month instead of $25 for water and $36.79 a month for sewer service. The new rates include a $4 meter, a charge the petitioners felt was unfair.

The rates are scheduled to increase each year through 2011. City officials say the new water and sewer rates are necessary to cover the expenses of operating the municipal water and sewer rate systems.