Drop in the bucket?

Less than $3 per month per household will buy Manatee County residents nearly $238 million worth of improvements to the county’s potable water and wastewater systems over the next five years.

Manatee County commissioners on Feb. 7 approved a 4% increase for the next two years, effective April 1 and April 1, 2018. The increase will take the average bill for 6,000 gallons a month, from $70.13 per month to $72.94 initially.

In 2007, 6,000 gallons of usage cost $54.80. That’s about a 33% increase in the past 10 years.

“Overall, this allows us primarily to continue the level of service that exists with our customers,” said Mark Simpson, Manatee County's Water Division manager. “With any mechanical structure, as it ages, you have to reinvest in order to avoid system failures. On the distribution side, that’s pipes, pumps and tanks. At the treatment plant, there’s maintenance and rehab.”

More than 53% of Manatee’s water distribution systems are more than 20 years old.

One of the largest projects in the Manatee County Utilities Department’s five-year capital improvement program is a new filtering system at the water treatment plant, at the Lake Manatee Dam site. County staff members have invested about two years in testing, piloting and the pre-engineering of the new filtering system. About one more year of engineering remains.

Converting the filtering system from its current granular model, which uses sand and other materials to filter the water, to a new membrane system, will take about two years.

The project cost is about $46 million.

Simpson said the new filtration process is needed because water quality standards have changed. Although the county has always met state and federal guidelines for water purification, there have been instances in which water from the past would not comply with newer standards.

The remainder of the $91.7 million for potable water will go toward other maintenance and rehabilitation needs.

On the wastewater side, there are about $146.1 million in needed improvements, including maintenance and replacement of lift stations, underground infrastructure and plant improvements. Manatee County has three wastewater treatment facilities, including one at the Lena Road landfill site. Projects at the Lena Road wastewater treatment facility are minimal, but there will be some repairs made to lakes used for storing treated wastewater, said Jeff Goodwin, Manatee’s Wastewater Division manager.

As with potable water, wastewater funding is primarily for upkeep of aging infrastructure. However, the corrosive nature of wastewater treatment requires more frequent repair and maintenance on the system.

“It’s mostly all repair and rehabilitation,” Goodwin said. “We’re fixing things.”

All revenue from water and wastewater systems come from user fees. An impact fee pays for constructing pipelines to new developments, so growth pays for itself, county staff said.