Some Ball State University students who live off campus will end up paying a little more on sewage utilities if Muncie follows through with a $17.1 million upgrade to its Water Pollution Control Facility, city officials said.
Proposed improvements to the facility will mean a 19.8 percent rate hike for sewage customers, or about $2.64 more a month on sewer bills, said Barb Smith, WPCF superintendent and member of the citizens advisory committee working on the project. The rate would rise from $15.14 to $18.14 per each 5,000 gallons of water used.
“It doesn’t matter who they are,” Smith said. “We have to treat the sewage that comes to them.”
The district has 26,450 sanitary sewer customers including Ball State, one of its largest customers with dozens of accounts, said Stephen Talbert, utility billing manager. The facility is working with the citizens advisory committee to come up with a plan acceptable to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and economical for Muncie residents, Smith said.
“I don’t think the [rate increase] will affect anybody dramatically,” she said.
Students who have rent or lease payments can reduce some of their wastewater costs by watching for leaky faucets and making sure toilets are not running unnecessarily, Smith said.
“They can really cut sewage bills and water bills by doing these small things and watching for them,” she said.
Ball State junior Graham Watson, who has been living in a house on Wheeling Avenue for more than a year, said he pays anywhere from $100 to $125 per quarter on sewage utilities.
“I suppose if sewage bills get insane and the city sewage department decides to just hike up the price and get all super-villain on us, we would use tradition and the policy, ‘If it’s brown flush it down; if it’s yellow, keep it mellow,’” Watson said.
Watson said he doesn’t think the rate increase, however, will have too great of an impact on students. Some students might try to recruit more roommates or housemates to help combat the rising costs.
“Managing the cost of utilities for students ... it usually comes down to if the utilities go up, students aren’t generally known for taking measures for bringing down the costs of utilities,” Watson said. “In general, students don’t really care.”
The $17.1 million project involves replacing raw sewage pumps installed in the 1950s, improving the city’s grit removal and filter systems and upgrading buildings constructed with the plant in 1938, according to the preliminary engineering report. Federal clean water laws require that cities maintain wastewater facilities and upgrade old equipment, said Muncie Sanitary District administrator Mike Rost.
Rost said Muncie has a combined sanitary and storm water sewer system that overflows into the White River. The improvements to the facility won’t be enough to meet federal clean water laws, but they are phase two of a long-term plan to do so, Smith said.
The sanitary district also imposed a 22 percent rate hike during a $15 million renovation to the facility in 2000, the first hike in about 10 years. Late last year, Muncie residents also experienced a 25 percent sewage rate hike to cover operating costs for WPCF, Smith said.
A preliminary public hearing on the project will take place at 6 p.m. today at Muncie City Hall.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
