Sewer rates for residents of the city of Poplar Bluff will go up this summer as part of a two-stage increase to pay for approximately $17.2 million in upgrades to wastewater treatment facilities.
The upgrades were originally approved by voters in 2012 to meet new regulations from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
The average residential bill will increase from $16.56 per month currently to $28.45 per month by the end of construction, Municipal Utilities General Manager Bill Bach explained this week. The first increase will likely be seen on bills in July, he said.
The matter was discussed Tuesday during a public hearing and Monday at the utilities advisory board meeting.
Rates will not change until the matter is sent to city council members, Bach said. It could be placed on council agendas at the end of May or early June.
The total average increase of $11.89 for residential customers will be split, with approximately half seen at the start of construction and half at the end of construction.
Construction is expected to start in the fall, and take 12 to 18 months, said project manager Greg Bell of Smith & Company Engineers.
The average increase is based on the average amount of water used by an individual customer in the past year, Bell said at the public hearing.
"Each individual's bill will be determined based on their exact water usage," he said.
A total increase of $7.25 per month to the base charge and approximately $1 per 1,000 gallons of water used will be seen by residential customers by the end of construction.
15th cheapest
Poplar Bluff's average residential bill will go from the fifth cheapest in the state for a community this size to the 15th cheapest, according to a 2018 study by the Missouri Public Utilities Alliance.
It listed average residential fees for 64 cities with populations between 10,000 and 50,000. The highest bill was at Liberty with $69 per month. The cheapest bill was at Eureka with $11.50 per month.
The Poplar Bluff system has approximately 6,500 residential customers, who used an average 4,600 gallons of water each month in the year used to calculate the rate estimates.
Residential customers made up just over 60 percent of rate collections.
Increases will also be seen for commercial and industrial classes of customers who use from 5,000 to more than 100,000 gallons of water per month.
The 28 biggest users, at more than 100,000 gallons of water per month, will see an average increase from $968 per month to $1,589 per month.
The last rate increase occurred in 2010.
Construction
Construction for this project was originally expected to begin in 2016, but the city saw delays from regulatory and funding agencies, Bell said.
The project is being paid for with up to $20 million in bonds secured with a low-interest loan from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources State Revolving Fund. Final cost will be determined after it is put out for bid in the summer, Bell said.
The rate increase is expected to generate approximately $1.2 million per year, for 20 years. It pays for the project, interest, a slight increase in operation and maintenance due to the changes and a contingency fund required by the funding agency to ensure payments can be made.
Under Poplar Bluff's current lagoon system, wastewater flows through three lagoons over a period of 15-20 days to breakdown the amount of organic material through a biologic process.
Heat assists the process. Floating covers, which would increase the collection of heat, will be added to the lagoons as part of the design to retrofit the current system.
The work also requires the addition of a concrete basin after the lagoons to reduce the amount of ammonia and nitrogen in the treated wastewater. Also added will be disinfection through ultraviolet lamps to reduce E. coli.
Permit
DNR issued Poplar Bluff a new permit March 1, 2015, which set tighter restrictions on the measurements of dissolved oxygen, ammonia and suspended solids in treated wastewater. The standards help determine the effectiveness of the treatment plant.
Issuance of the permit comes after 13 years of negotiations between the city and DNR concerning the changes. The permit is issued through 2022.
The city's settlement agreement with DNR also includes clauses which say changes required to accommodate any increased restrictions have to be deemed affordable, according to Bell.
* The new permit sets limits of 20 milligrams per liter for both Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids.
The retrofitted lagoons will be capable of providing BOD at 12 mg/L and TSS at 15 mg/L.
* The permit also sets ammonia limits at 1.5 milligrams per liter in the summer and 2.6 milligrams per liter in the winter.
Ammonia could be as low as .6 mg/L for the lagoon system.
* No nitrogen limits are set by the current permit. The lagoon system could produce 10 mg/L.