City sets steep water and sewer rate hikes
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 7:41 AM PST
By Amy M.E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleLongview residents' utility bills will jump early next year as the city prepares to fund expensive upgrades to its aging water and sewer treatment systems.
Between now and 2010, the city must hike water rates by 44 percent and sewer rates by 27 percent to begin paying back the millions of dollars it must borrow to plan, design and build alternatives to the existing systems, Public Works Director Jeff Cameron told the City Council at a workshop Tuesday.
The council will decide this spring whether it will upgrade the 63-year-old Fisher's Lane water treatment plant on the Cowlitz River or drill wells at the Mint Farm Industrial Park. It also needs to choose a plan for sewage treatment in West Longview because the sewage lagoons are full --- all 45 acres of them.
Because the council hasn't settled on solutions, it's hard to educate the public about why the city must raise rates, Councilwoman Mary Jane Melink said.
"One of the things that's tough is we don't have a plan yet," she said.
Also, explaining the tangle of environmental regulations that factor into the council's decisions is difficult, added Councilwoman Ramona Leber. She said citizens have asked her, "Why don't you just dredge the lagoons?"
The lagoons contain 41 years' worth of "bio-solids," which will cost the city $3.5 million to $6 million to remove, Cameron said. Engineers have recommended building pump stations to divert all of West Longview's sewage to the regional sewer plant on Fibre Way, which is where sewage from the older parts of the city is processed. The pump stations would cost $19 million.
The average residential customer paid $20.88 a month for water this year (most customers are billed every two months, though). In 2010, the water rate will be $31.32 a month if the council agrees to it. The council will vote on the issue at the Jan. 10 meeting, which would make the utility rate increases effective Jan. 15.
City staff also recommend raising sewer rates to $51.65 a month in 2010. Longview's residential customers now pay $39.89 a month for sewer service.
Tuesday, the council asked staff to spread the rate hike evenly over three years, rather than with a small increase in 2008 and then large ones in 2009 and 2010. The city has raised its water rates every year since 2002 and sewer rates every year since 2003.
The Fisher's Lane water plant, which draws water from the Cowlitz River, has had trouble meeting the city's water needs after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980. Since then, the river has been loaded with mud and silt, which creates sandbars in the summer that threaten to cut off the treatment plant's intake structure from the water. Also, the excessive silt wreaks havoc on the plant's equipment, leading to breakdowns.
Three engineering firms have been searching for the most cost-effective long-term solution for Longview's water supply. The most viable option may be drawing water from aquifers deep below the Mint Farm Industrial Park, a project that would cost about $26 million.
The city had been considering upgrading the Fisher's Lane plant --- which would cost about half the price of a new water system elsewhere in town --- but it might not be worth the investment due to the silt problems, city officials have said. The Army Corps of Engineers' dredging project at the mouth of the Cowlitz this winter has had "no impact" on the water plant's intake, which was clogged with 8 feet of silt after the storms of recent weeks, Cameron said.
Councilman Andy Busack said it will be important to communicate the city's intentions with the public. The people he's heard from don't like the idea of drinking water from an industrial park, he said. They tell him they'd rather pay higher water rates to continue using the river as the city's water source, he said.
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