The Baltimore City Department of Public Works today asked the Board of Estimates for a public hearing on June 27, 2012 to review a recommended increase of 9.0% for water/sewer rates and fees for Baltimore City customers. The increase is required to meet numerous 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. This rate increase, if approved by the Board of Estimates, will raise the annual water and sewer bill for a family of four by approximately $97.

Public Works Director Alfred H. Foxx stated: “Baltimore City is moving forward to make sure that we continue to provide the best drinking water in the country. In order to sustain and grow our system, we must continue to replace old pipes, seal leaks and prevent potentially destructive water main breaks. We must also insure, by law, that the water we return to the Chesapeake Bay is purer than ever. We have also committed to building on the steps already taken to accuracy in improve customer service with modernization of our metering and billing systems. This work is being done now - for us - and for future generations.”

Mr. Foxx stated that moving forward as quickly as possible will reduce costs in the long run, especially in light of the damage we have all witnessed from failing mains. Additional unfunded federal regulations require greater investment in all our treatment facilities - both water and sewer. These include covering or post-treating our finished drinking-water reservoirs, and moving forward with the construction phase of the $1 billion Consent Decree projects to rehabilitate our sanitary sewers.

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 place a burden on utility management to actively realize cost-saving measures by doing now what needs to be done. This decision to limit the rate increase is because 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.
• Improvements at wastewater treatment plants to meet federal mandates to reduce nutrients entering the Chesapeake Bay.

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.