Water rates to increase

5 percent increase on quarterly bills will begin in three months; will also include wastewater

Lake County residents will see a 5 percent increase on their quarterly water and sanitary bills beginning in May, the Department of Utilities reported this week.

The rate revisions were approved unanimously by the Lake County commissioners for the purpose of infrastructure improvements.

Currently, some of the infrastructure is nearly 100 years old.

The average design life for underground pipe is about 75 years, noted county Sanitary Engineer Randy Rothlisberger.

“Our department is acting proactively by having these small rate increases rather than implementing a major increase at a point when the system is in a state of emergency,” he said. “Providing safe drinking water and wastewater treatment is critical to our economy, health and way

of life. That is why LCDU is taking a proactive approach by using revenue generated from these rate increases for our Capital Improvement Plan, which includes the replacement of up to eight miles of pipe per year.

“Every year we take a look at our finances and make sure our rates are enough to cover our operation needs and also our infrastructure requirements for the foreseeable future,” Rothisberger added. “The rates we have set are enough to cover our expenses but fall short of our long-term goals for infrastructure improvements, so we have some catching up to do.”

According to a news release, the Utilities Department services and maintains over 550 miles of water pipes and supplies water to about 116,000 customers in Eastlake, Willoughby, Willowick, Wickliffe, Willoughby Hills, the villages of Lakeline, Timberlake, Perry, and North Perry, the townships of Madison and Perry, and parts of Painesville and Concord townships.

The department also services and maintains 530 miles of sanitary sewer pipes and treats wastewater for roughly 120,000 customers in Mentor, Mentor-on-the-Lake, the townships of Concord, Madison Painesville, Perry, the villages of Fairport Harbor, Grand River, North Perry and Perry, and portions of Kirtland.

The water rate will increase from $3.66 per 100 cubic feet to $3.84 per 100 cubic feet.

The department has a separate wastewater rate structure for residential and nonresidential customers.

Residential customers will see an increase in their flat rate from $77.49 per quarter to $81.27; nonresidential customers will see an increase of $3.69 per 1,000 metered gallons to $3.87 per 1,000 metered gallons.

The department values its ability to provide safe and clean drinking water, proper wastewater treatment and outstanding customer service to Lake County residents, and these increases help maintain these fundamentals, the release stated.

The department operates two water treatment facilities, one in Willoughby and the other in Painesville Township. Both are designed to treat a combined total of roughly 29 million gallons of water a day.

Two wastewater treatment facilities, one in Mentor and one in Madison, are both designed to treat a combined total of about 25 million gallons of wastewater a day.