THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Their timing could've been better.
Even as half the city continues to stock up on bottled water for relief from the unpalatable, briny taste of their tap water, Chesapeake City Council members on Tuesday raised water and sewer rates.
Starting Oct. 1, combined rates for water and sewer services will rise by $2.10 for residents, raising the average household bimonthly bill to $55.51 from $53.41.
Businesses also will pay up to $850 more to hook up new developments to the city's water and sewer systems.
The increases, approved 8-1 by the City Council on Tuesday, will help pay for a proposed $72 million in improvements designed to bring the Northwest River Water Treatment Plant in line with new federal clean-water standards.
During the November election, the city also will ask residents to approve a bond referendum to cover the water improvement construction debt.
The idea of paying more for water that has reached its saltiest levels in a decade may seem offensive at best to residents who have changed the way they make their coffee, boil their food and even brush their teeth. But officials say the higher rates will ensure that the city eliminates its salty water problem once and for all.
City Manager James W. Rein reminded council members and the audience on Tuesday that the project to meet federal water standards is supposed to also rid the city of the salty water that has periodically plagued it since Chesapeake began tapping the Northwest River in 1980.
In a Thursday memo to Rein, Public Utilities Director Amar Dwarkanath warned that chloride and sodium levels are likely to continue to rise and surpass the high levels already reached this summer unless the area receives between five and 10 inches of rain.
Localities have until July 1, 1998, to meet the stricter, sweeping amendments to drinking water laws passed by Congress in 1986. The new filtering process would cut in half potentially harmful chemicals identified by the federal government.
The new requirements have forced Chesapeake to gear up to take on its second largest bond debt ever. The new bonds will come while Chesapeake struggles to finance $147 million it has borrowed in the past year, while trying to keep existing services at the level residents have come to expect.
Chloride levels on Tuesday were at 724 parts per million. Sodium levels were at 362 parts per million. Federal guidelines put the threshold for salty taste at 250 parts per million.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL WATER by CNB