DPW to Greatly Accelerate Water Main Rehabilitation

Today the Baltimore City Board of Estimates approved a recommended increase of 9.0% for water/sewer rates and fees for Baltimore City customers. The increase is required to meet numerous unfunded State and Federal regulatory mandates; for rehabilitation of aging infrastructure; to provide preventative inspections of sewer and water lines as well as to replace our current metering and billing systems. The new rates will raise the annual water and sewer bill for a family of four by approximately $97.

Bureau of Water and Wastewater Head, Rudolph S. Chow, P.E., presented the case for the rate change at today’s hearing. Mr. Chow emphasized the need to continue to meet mandate deadlines and to move ahead with investment in underground infrastructure, citing a history of disruptions from water main breaks and sewer overflows.

Mr. Chow stated: “We are continuing to move forward in meeting Consent Decree, Safe Drinking Water Act and other unfunded mandates. We are also dramatically accelerating our water main renewal and replacement work. We are moving from an unsustainable rate of under five miles per year of main rehabilitation, to a more acceptable twenty miles per year. Our goal is to reach forty miles each year within five years. By being proactive, and through proper asset management, we are insuring our legacy of providing excellent drinking water at rates lower than most comparable east coast systems.”

Public Works Director Alfred H. Foxx stated: “I have charged the Bureau of Water and Wastewater with meeting our mandates, strengthening our infrastructure, planning for our future and enhancing our customer service. I have also charged them with doing so in a fiscally responsible manner. I am confident that we are moving forward on all fronts.”

Director Foxx stated that DPW has limited the increase at 9.0% even as other utilities have instituted double-digit rate increases in recent years. The lower increases also place a burden on the utility to actively realize cost-saving measures now through a new Asset Management Program. This decision to limit the rate increase is that while we need to do this work, we also need to limit the impact on the budgets of our citizens

Baltimore City continues to have some of the lowest water and sewer rates among comparable east coast cities. We also provide water bill assistance programs for qualifying Senior and Low Income residents.
Among the reasons for the proposed rate increase:
• Over 95% of the City’s water mains have been in service for 65 years without inspection; many are beyond 100 years of service.
• Baltimore has been replacing only 0.5% of our water infrastructure annually over the past two decades.
• In 2011, DPW responded to 960 water main breaks and to almost 400 already this year.
• In order to provide timely and accurate billing, as well as quality customer service, DPW has increased staffing closer to industry standards. New metering and billing systems will bring additional benefits to our customers.
• The continuing mandated federal Consent Decree for sewer system improvements.
• Changes in Safe Drinking Water Act regulations requiring hundreds of millions of dollars in filtration and reservoir improvements.
• Major capital projects at wastewater treatment plants to meet federal mandates to reduce nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay.
Among the largest upcoming and ongoing projects:
• New Metering and Billing Systems - $200 M
• Enclosing Finished-Water Reservoirs - $300 M
• Water Main Rehabilitation (five years) - $300 M
• Fullerton Water Facilities - $500 M
• Back River and Patapsco ENR - $800 M

• Consent Decree – over $1 Billion

 While seeking to address our infrastructure needs and unfunded mandates, Baltimore City has taken action to keep costs down by increasing operational efficiencies, reducing energy costs and accelerating inspections of water mains for a more focused capital program to address crucial infrastructure replacement.

The rate increase will go into effect tomorrow, June 28, 2012