County water, sewer rates increasing

Augusta County Service Authority customers will experience an increase in water and sewer rates starting in July.
The service authority’s board Wednesday voted to increase water rates 7 percent and sewer rates 9 percent for fiscal year 2009.
Debbie White, the service authority’s finance director, said the average service authority customer will pay about $3.10 more a month. And the average water and sewer residential bill for a customer using 4,500 gallons of water a month will be $111.49 every two months.
The increase in sewer rates is part of the ongoing effort by Augusta County and other Virginia localities to reduce nutrient pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.
The nutrient pollution if unchecked, works its way from Shenandoah Valley streams and rivers to the bay, where it forms algae and chokes off the oxygen in the bay.
“Enhanced nutrient removal is a biological process that takes place with microbes consuming the nitrogen and phosphorous in the waste levels,” said Bo Beasley, the service authority’s assistant executive director.
Beasley anticipates the increase in sewer rates will continue for a number of years as Virginia and six other states aim for significantly lower phosphorous and nitrogen levels in the Chesapeake Bay by 2010.
He said the water rate increase is likely for the next year or two, and is needed to help Augusta County meet Virginia Department of Health guidelines regarding surface water contamination.
Beasley said Augusta County customers will not see the increase in their water and sewer bills until the September billing.