PEABODY — The City Council has approved a $100 increase in water rates to help pay for $36 million in infrastructure improvements.
Acknowledging the city has ignored its water and sewer lines for too long, Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. proposed the Peabody Clean & Sustainable Water Infrastructure project Thursday night.
The four-phase plan, to be completed by 2020, will overhaul the city’s water and sewer lines to its nearly 19,000 households, much of it to be paid for by ratepayers.
The unanimous council vote raises the average water and sewer bill to $908, up from $790, a nearly 15 percent hike.
“I’d rather spend money on sexier projects like a new school or a police station,” he said. “But to me, water is as important a service as we provide, and this is a key investment for the long term.”
The mayor did not rule out future rate increases.
“We have among the lowest water and sewer rates in the state right now, and haven’t increased the water and sewer rate in many years,” he said. “In the past, the cost of water has been covered by the tax rate. I want to shift that so the more that’s used, the more it costs; that’s fair.”
Last summer, The Item reported the mayor and the City Council reached a compromise on a water and sewer rate hike and rates rose 5 percent. That increase — the first in a decade, the mayor said at the time — would help the city complete some infrastructure projects. The increase raised the average homeowner bill about $38.
The biggest ticket item is $20 million to refurbish the Winona Water Treatment Plant in the eastern part of the city. The facility provides water to 30 percent of the city.
“It came down to whether to reinvest in Winona Water Treatment Plant by rebuilding it, or shutting it down and getting water from the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) at a very high cost,” Bettencourt said. “We decided that we need to use our natural resources and keep control over our water and sewer costs.”
In addition to rebuilding the Winona Plant, the project will replace miles of pipe, and the final phase will be to pave the streets affected by the project.
The result, the mayor said, will fix low pressure issues many neighborhoods have experienced.
The $2.7 million first phase has been approved unanimously by the council. In addition, a 10-year, interest-free loan from MWRA will allow installation of new pipes on Route 1.
“In that section of the city, crews found 6-inch pipes going into 12-inch pipes and then into 8-inch ones,” Bettencourt said. “Now, it will be one 12-inch pipe all along.”
Also on tap are new water pipes from the Coolidge Water Treatment Plant that will snake through south and central Peabody to connect to Route 1.
The Coolidge facility came back online earlier this year after fire damaged it last year. It provides 70 percent of the city’s water.
That 16-month plant closing cost the city $2.2 million more than it budgeted for because it had to buy water from the MWRA for $250,000 per month.
“Part of me thinks I should leave it to a future mayor to pay for,” Bettencourt said. “But at the end of this, we will have two state-of-the-art water treatment plants and a significantly improved infrastructure piping system. This is an important investment for the long term.”