A 20 percent hike goes into effect next month as city officials

blame federal mandates for the increase.

WESTBROOK – The average Westbrook resident is going to see 20 percent increases on monthly sewer bills in 2011.

The City Council has given a first reading of the proposed 2011 sewer budget, which calls for a 13 percent increase over the current year, to $3.9 million. Within that budget, the wastewater division’s operating budget is up $121,630 for the replacement of a sewer truck and the capital budget is up $338,721 due to federally mandated combined sewer overflow abatement projects and storm water management requirements.

The budget increase means the rate sewer users pay the city has to go up. According to figures provided by the city, based on estimated water flow, the budget calls for a sewer user rate of $5.55 per 100 cubic feet, a 23 percent increase over the current rate. For the average residential user, this signifies a $6.30 – or 19.7 percent – increase in monthly sewer bills.

The $5 monthly billing charge will be unchanged.

City engineer Eric Dudley said the mandates driving the rate hike are the result of the federal Clean Water Act, which is requiring many old New England communities to reduce or eliminate its combined sewer overflows.

Dudley said that in the past, storm water and sanitary sewer traveled through the same pipe and discharged into bodies of water. After it was determined that this was detrimental to the environment, treatment plants were mandated to clean up wastewater, he said.

During heavy rain events, the treatment plants reach a point where they cannot take in more water, causing an overflow that discharges into the river, Dudley said.

“Our goal is to decrease the amount of storm water going into the system so we don’t exceed the capacity of the plant,” he said.

At the same time, there are issues with the quality of storm water runoff, which can contain pollutants such as chemical fertilizers for lawns, Dudley said. The government is also requiring communities to improve the quality of storm water runoff before it returns to the environment, he said.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are requiring the cleanup of the Long Creek Watershed, which Westbrook, Scarborough, Portland and South Portland discharge into, according to Dudley. A public/private partnership is currently working to make the watershed safe for swimming and fishing, he said.

All these regulations require budget items that are driving the rate increase; otherwise, the budget would be flat-funded, he said.

Future rate increases are an unknown, but Dudley said, “We try to manage it as conservatively as possible.”

Two city councilors said the rate increases may not be desirable, but it is well worth the cost to have a working sewer system.

“We were given the tough news last year at this time that there probably would be an increase,” said councilor John O’Hara. “At some point in time, unfortunately, we have to pay the piper.”

O’Hara commended the sewer commission for working to keep the rates low, and noted that Westbrook is not at the same disadvantages as other communities because of the commission’s efforts. He said other communities have to rely on a “tremendous amount of bonding” to take care of some aspects that a surplus in Westbrook’s sewer fund could take care of.

And Councilor Paul Emery said to consider the alternative. Before the advent of modern-day sewer systems, he said, cholera and typhoid spread through contaminated water, leading to illness and death.

“If it goes up a few pennies, it’s well worth the alternative,” he said. “And if you don’t like it, conserve (water).”