WASHINGTON 鈥� Nearly 2 million residents of聽Prince George鈥檚 and Montgomery counties are about to see their water bills go up, and the leader of one of the area鈥檚 biggest utilities says it鈥檚 all about fixing the infrastructure.
Carla Reid, general manager and CEO of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, told 91欧美激情 on Friday morning that the increase, which goes into effect Friday, amounts to about $3.28 per month for the average household 鈥� a $6-per-quarter Infrastructure Investment Fee and a 3 percent rate increase.
The commission faces 鈥渜uite a conundrum,鈥� Reid said: People in the area are conserving water, and that means revenue is down, even as the need for infrastructure stays the same.
鈥淧eople are using much less, and we still have the bills to pay,鈥� Reid said.
She said the money raised from the increase will go to fixing up the aging infrastructure and sewer system, as well as 鈥渁ll the tools and chemicals we need to run our business.鈥�
Reid said in a that of the WSSC鈥檚 11,000 miles of water and sewer mains, about 37 percent is 50 years older or more. And of those thousands of miles, WSSC only gets to about 60 miles a year.
While further usage rate increases have not been ruled out for the coming years, Reid is giving her assurances that the new quarterly fee will not be rising.
“I can say that our Infrastructure Investment Fee is not going to go up in the next few fiscal years. It’s good until fiscal year ’20,” she said.
At that rate,聽Reid acknowledges, 鈥淲e鈥檙e never going to catch up,鈥� but says that technology can help close the gap and 鈥渕ake a good dent in it.鈥�
For one thing, new pipes will be replaced by zinc alloys, 鈥渁nd we know that lasts longer than ductile iron pipes.鈥� And fixing and maintaining other parts of the infrastructure, such as valves, can make shutdowns and repairs go more quickly.
鈥淚 think that those strategies are going to put us ahead of the game.鈥�
91欧美激情’s John Aaron contributed to this report.
