Water, sewer rates under microscope

Water and sewer rates will come up for discussion when Lorain City Council meets in committee on Sept. 26.

And the forecast for future water and sewer bills may not be what residents want to hear, said Mayor Chase Ritenauer.

Council’s Streets and Utilities Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. with a presentation by CT Consultants engineering firm. The agenda includes discussion of revenue needs for the water and sewer utilities of Lorain.

The Council agenda did not include data about

what could happen to the utility rates. Ritenauer made his prediction: “Going forward, we’re going to have some decisions to make.”

The city’s situation is not new, Ritenauer said. The water and sewer systems have been under the study of Safety-Service Director Dan Given and were examined by his predecessor as well, the mayor said.

At least one study from the past year recommended rate increases in the city.

Lorain received a “2016 Water and Sewer Rate Analysis” prepared by the Ohio Rural Community Assistance Program, administered by the WSOS Community Action Commission Inc.

The undated Ohio RCAP study had analysis of Lorain’s operating and nonoperating expenses, debt service and capital expenditures.

Starting with the city’s underground water lines, Lorain’s water loss in 2014 was 31.4 percent, more than the 15 percent level considered unacceptable by regulatory agencies, according to the study.

For sewage, Lorain also cleaned 250 percent of the billed wastewater. That is the equivalent of more than 3.68 billion gallons of storm water that must be processed because it intrudes into sanitary sewers, according to the study.

Lorain’s big dig sanitary sewage conveyance tunnel, being built under Broadway, provides a storage space for wastewater but does nothing to stop rainwater from seeping into the sanitary sewers, according to the study.

The project, one of the largest in city history, “should be viewed

as a Band-Aid buying time for the community to make the management changes necessary to properly identify and mitigate the problem at its source,” the study said.

The financial analysis was bleak, with existing water rates “inadequate to fund ongoing operation of the department,” according to the Ohio RCAP study.

The analysts projected a yearly operating and maintenance deficit of more than $3.64 million for the water division, with a need for more workers in the city water plant.

For the sewer side, the RCAP study said rates “are grossly inadequate” and predicted an annual deficit of more than $6.7 million.

It was unclear whether the findings of CT Consultants would support Ohio RCAP study. The situation with Lorain’s Utilities Department has changed in the last year, Ritenauer said.

In the past, Lorain has not invested enough money in its utility systems and the plants are in need of repairs, Ritenauer said. No one in the city, including the mayor and his administration, wants to pay more for water and sewer bills, he added.

“These are things we have to be thinking about because of their importance,” Ritenauer said.

“Being able to provide fresh water, being able to treat sewage in compliance with EPA standards, they’re not pleasant discussions but they need to be had,” he said, referring to the rules mandated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

The committee meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 200 W. Erie Ave.

A Finance & Claims Committee meeting will follow to discuss management positions within city departments.