Utility seeking 4 percent water rate increase

More money is needed to replace aging cast iron water pipes before they break and cause sinkholes or other damage, a local utility spokesman said Friday.

Steve Berry, of Colorado Springs Utilities, said the utility will ask the City Council for permission to raise water rates 4 percent. The increase means an extra $2.50 on an average monthly bill, he said.

Berry said CSU’s current budget provides $6 million annually to replace old cast iron water pipes with plastic pipes before the metal pipes break.

“That only covers a third of a mile of our system, not very much,” he said. “We should be doing at least twice as much. But every little bit more, helps.”

Wet weather, sudden temperature changes and sandy soil contribute to water main breaks, Berry said.

Berry said half of CSU’s infrastructure will be considered outdated within the next 15 years.

“At current funding levels, it would take 250 years to upgrade our infrastructure,” he said.

CSU also has 26 water storage tanks that need repair or replacement, Berry said.

“We know customers are facing hard times economically in a lot of cases, so we recognize that,” he said. “We live here, too. We’re trying to look within before we go to our customers, as best as we can.”

To that effect, Berry said CSU saved $15 million by eliminating 50 positions.

“And we can use a rate increase to pay for the federal regulations we’re required to meet,” he said.

Public opinion about the proposed rate increase is mixed.

“I’d be totally OK with that,” said Matthew Heenan. “If they could prevent it from happening in the future, absolutely, because it’s only going to continue to happen.”

Eric Ward lives near the site of a previous water main break.

“(A rate increase would be) tough on a lot of families, I understand that,” he said. “But we also need an infrastructure in place.”