ALCOSAN Announces 2009 Rate Structure
Pittsburgh –The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) announces an anticipated rate increase for 2009 to fund mandated sewer infrastructure projects along with increased daily operating costs.
Beginning January 1, 2009, the ALCOSAN sewer rate will increase 16 percent from $3.25 to $3.77 per 1,000 gallons of water used and the quarterly customer service charge will increase from $6.83 to $7.92. A homeowner using 18,000 gallons of water per quarter will see an increase of only $3.50 per month.
The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) Board of Directors today approved the increase attributing it to the cost of complying with a federal consent decree to address sewer overflows and rising commodity costs.
Stormwater flows into the treatment plant continue to increase due to aging infrastructure while the number of accounts continues to decrease. Coupled with costs associated with instituting new treatment systems to handle wet weather flows, rate increases are projected for the next several years. As a public health agency operating 24/7, ALCOSAN is mandated by County, State and Federal regulations to provide a specific level of service or risk incurring penalties.
Consumers should also be aware that 78 of the 83 communities ALCOSAN serves place an additional charge on the ALCOSAN rates with proceeds earmarked for community owned sewer line repair, replacement and maintenance.
“The costs to comply with federal regulations are expensive yet the benefits to improve public health, the environment as well as spurring economic development will pay off for the region,” said ALCOSAN Executive Director Arletta Scott Williams.
The rate increase is largely credited to costs associated with the federal consent decree to reduce combined sewer overflows and eliminate sanitary sewer overflows which is expected to cost the region almost $3 billion over 20 years. ALCOSAN interceptor maintenance costs continue to increase inspection and cleaning segments of ALCOSAN’s 95 miles of interceptor sewer lines as well as the addition of technical staff to address consent decree requirements and compliance.
Commodities such as natural gas, fuel, electricity and chemicals to operate the 56 acre treatment plant and pump stations are slated to increase 9.5 percent overall.
The 83 communities within the ALCOSAN service area are currently under EPA mandates to repair broken sewer lines, reduce inflow and infiltration, reduce the frequency and amount of combined sewer overflows, and eliminate sanitary sewer overflows.
Located along the Ohio River on Pittsburgh’s Northside, ALCOSAN treats an average of 200 million gallons of wastewater daily representing treatment service from 320,000 customers in 83 communities including the City of Pittsburgh. ALCOSAN is not a county agency but a joint city-county authority operating under state guidelines receiving no tax monies with revenues generated solely by rates.