Water rates in county set to rise

Daily activities — such as bathing and using toilets — could become more expensive for Albemarle County residents in a few weeks and even more costly years from now.

A typical single-family household would pay $8.41 more per month for water and sewer, beginning with the new fiscal year in July, under the Albemarle County Service Authority’s proposed rate increases.

Officials say they might not increase the rates quite as high as originally proposed, but increases are necessary — largely to finance improvements to old infrastructure.

“What they’ve been seeing is increases in their water rates over the last few years,” said Gary Fern, executive director of the ACSA. “The biggest thing driving the rate increase is the additional capital improvement program projects.”

The North Fork Regional Pump Station Project — in which a new station would pump wastewater to the Powell Creek Interceptor — is a major culprit of the immediate expenses, estimated to cost nearly $5.8 million in fiscal 2010 and the same amount the following year. The Meadowcreek Basin Sewer Rehabilitation Project is estimated to cost $2 million in fiscal 2010.

Though some infrastructure work would begin immediately, other funds would go toward long-term projects, such as the area’s 50-year water supply plan. Gradual rate increases are designed to avoid major rate hikes in the future.

Filling reserves

Fern said that both ACSA and the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority, which sells wholesale water to the county service authority, have been planning for the water supply plan by setting aside reserves.

“You see a gradual trend, still heading upward, but it’s a much more gradual trend than to have the spikes,” Fern said. “You want to get to a point where someday your rates are sufficient enough that you’re replacing infrastructure on a regular basis.”

ACSA member Liz Palmer has said that many localities throughout the country haven’t invested enough money in infrastructure improvements in past years and now the need to replace and repair aging water and sewer pipes has escalated.

“And we’re right in there with all of them,” Palmer said after an ACSA meeting earlier this year, adding that it would be “penny-wise and pound-foolish” to ignore a need for infrastructure improvements.

A typical single-family county residential customer uses about 4,800 gallons of water per month, according to an ACSA report. Under an ACSA projection, if a family were to continue using that same amount of water in coming years, the combined payment for water and sewer would climb to $71.65 per month in fiscal 2011, $74.21 in fiscal 2012 and $77.79 in fiscal 2013.

Though the city and the ACSA revise rate projections yearly, officials expect the rates to continue increasing in coming years.

ACSA is considering a rate for fiscal 2010 in which a single-family household would pay $69.84 a month for 4,800 gallons of water and 4,800 gallons of wastewater, up from $61.43 this fiscal year, $51.71 in fiscal 2008, $41.93 in fiscal 2007 and $38.12 in fiscal years 2006 and 2005.

Assuming a household in Charlottesville uses about 5,150 gallons per month and has the same gallons of wastewater, under a proposal officials plan to present to the Charlottesville City Council on Monday, that family would owe a total of $65.02 for both water and sewer per month in fiscal 2010, up from $63.49 currently.

$41 million upgrade

A city report notes that the city and the ACSA will have to fork over money next fiscal year to begin replacement of a 50-year-old Meadowcreek Interceptor pipeline. An upgrade of the Moore’s Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant will also cost an estimated $41 million.

The city’s utility rate report also states that during rainfalls, substantial rainwater enters the sewer system through cracks in pipes and manholes, causing manholes to surcharge and overflow and the sewer treatment plant to exceed capacity. Installing larger sewers to help fix the problem would come from the pockets of city and county ratepayers.

City officials say they were able to propose modest rate increases for next fiscal year partially because of increased water use at the University of Virginia — the city’s largest customer — and funds were taken from a city reserve. Some infrastructure improvements that prevent leaks have also helped the city avoid drastic increases in water and sewer rates, according to Lauren Hildebrand, Charlottesville’s director of utilities.

“We lose less water through our system,” Hildebrand said. “That will keep our rates lower.”

A typical city household — one that uses about 5,150 gallons of each water and sewer per month — is projected to pay a combined $68.99 in fiscal 2011, $73.17 in fiscal 2012 and $77.65 in fiscal 2013.

For a city household that used 5,150 gallons of each sewer and water per month, the combined bill was about $59.61 in fiscal 2008, $55.13 for fiscal 2007 and $52.87 in fiscal 2006.

A large part of why the city and county are proposing rate increases in coming years is to absorb the burden of higher wholesale rates — the amount the ACSA and city pay the RWSA.

Albemarle County will see an 11.3 percent wholesale water rate increase for fiscal 2010, while the city’s rate will climb 7.7 percent. Wholesale sewer rates are up 12.53 percent for Albemarle and 12.9 percent for Charlottesville.

Conservation push

Both the ACSA and Charlottesville are attempting to increase conservation.

The county charges customers higher rates for using more than 3,000 gallons of water, and the city charges more for water usage during the summer, when customers use is at its highest.

The city and the ACSA will each approve water and sewer rates in June. The City Council could approve the water and sewer rates, as well as gas rates, as early as Monday.

The ACSA will have a public hearing on the proposed rates Thursday and is expected to approve rates either Thursday night or at a meeting later in June.