Fort Worth city leaders discuss water rate hike to replace outdated pipes
FORT WORTH, Texas - The heat put strain on pipes across the state, but Fort Worth saw significant main breaks because of it.
Now, the city is proposing a water rate hike to help relieve some of the problems.
Thursday’s discussion was part of a workshop that included a variety of topics. One of them was how customers water bills could be seeing an increase.
Nearly three weeks after a water main break at Lancaster Avenue and Collier Street, and the resulting damage to a nearby school, Fort Worth city leaders discussed a heat-related main break of a 30-inch pipe, along with the long-range plan to replace the city’s 800 miles of outdated cast iron pipes.
Fort Worth's Lancaster Avenue sees second major water main break in a week
The city says that they usually deal with two water main breaks a day, but in the last month they have seen those numbers double.
"I suspect we lost 25 million gallons as part of that break," Fort Worth Water Department director Chris Harder said. "We are doing an emergency replacement on Collier right now. When you look at all the costs, we’re probably going to be over $1 million."
"What I’m trying to get at is how much are we spending on these old pipes busting and we know it impacts our water rate and that water rate impacts our residents, and so are we doing them a disservice by continuing to draw out this particular replacement and not doubling down now," Fort Worth City Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck.
The proposed rate hike for water customers would be the first since 2020, if approved.
"The average user is going to see an increase of about 2.18 a month," Fort Worth Water Department spokeswoman Mary Gugliuzza said.
Water department officials said the department needs more than $59 million additional dollars in its upcoming budget to keep up with its infrastructure projects, increasing costs of raw water, as well as the city’s projected growth.
"Tarrant Regional Water District supplies us all of our raw water. Those rates are going up, but we are also increasing the amount of water we’re planning to buy based on trends," "Because demands are going up but we’re growing."
Part of the goal of a rate hike is to see fewer scenes like the recent one at Lancaster and Collier.
"We’re trying to speed up the rate at which we replace the old cast iron pipes," Gugliuzza said.
The discussion was a chance for council members to gather information.
A vote on the proposed water rate hike takes place September 19.