Fort Worth residents will likely see an increase in their water bills in January.
The city’s water department is asking Fort Worth City Council members to approve an increase to water and wastewater rates as soon as the end of August. The raised rate would fund a $42 million increase in the utility’s 2025 budget, which is expected to be $616,969,098 — a 7% increase from 2024.
The proposal will increase the average combined residential water and wastewater by $1.71 monthly starting in 2025.
The city’s water utility is funded solely by its rates and fees, as no property tax or sales revenue is received. Water department spokesperson Mary Gugliuzza said the last time the department increased its rate was last year, but no rate changes were made in 2019, or between 2021 and 2023.
What’s behind the water rate increase?
Five different factors were behind the rate increases, according to a city report.
A significant factor is the department’s capital improvement plan, which includes increases in both debt service payments, pay-go cash financing and capital equipment purchases. Capital expenses, or improvements to infrastructure, are expected to increase by $17.9 million, debt services by $5.8 million and pay-go cash by $8.1 million.
The department’s recommended capital improvement plans would spend more than $2 billion over the next five years, according to the report.
“The cost to build new pipelines and facilities or replace or upgrade existing ones is significant,” the report reads. “These increases are necessary to keep pace with growth, maintain aging infrastructure and fund capital investment in the regional system.”
Major projects in 2025 include expanding the capacity of the Eagle Mountain Water Treatment Plant, replacing 12 primary clarifiers at the Village Creek Water Reclamation Facility, replacing service lines as required and continuing design of a new wastewater treatment plant at Mary’s Creek in west Fort Worth.
Increases in pay-go cash financing will be used to accelerate the replacement of cast iron water lines. There are about 700 miles of cast iron water mains in Fort Worth, and more than 85% of main breaks each year are in the cast iron water lines, according to the report.
Increases in capital equipment is to replace aging mechanical equipment such as vehicles, valves, pumps, compressors and laboratory analysis equipment.
Lead, PFAS regulations lead to increased costs
According to the report, new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule Revision is one of two new regulations that led to the budget increase. The revisions require agencies to use science-based testing protocols to find more sources of lead in drinking water, establish a trigger level to jumpstart mitigation efforts and require testing in schools and child care facilities. Water systems must also identify and make public the locations of lead service lines and complete lead service line replacements, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Additionally, EPA adopted new standards for PFAS chemicals, also known as “forever chemicals,” in April. PFAS are a group of thousands of chemicals found in many different consumer, commercial and industrial products such as drinking water, food packaging and personal care products. The EPA has established that there is no safe level of exposure to PFAS, which have been linked to harmful health effects like increased risk of cancers including prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, interference with the body’s natural hormones, increased cholesterol levels and developmental effects or delays in children.
The newly adopted standards require public water systems to monitor PFAS for three years, provide the public with data on the amount of chemicals in their drinking water starting 2027 and implement solutions to reduce the chemicals in drinking water by 2029.
Over the course of mandatory federal testing last year, Fort Worth’s North and South Holly Water Treatment Plants reported 16 samples that exceeded the agency’s new standards for two PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS.
City officials hired attorneys to explore the possibility of suing major chemical manufacturers, such as 3M and DuPont, for damages caused by PFAS. The proposed budget includes an additional $1.1 million for costs like professional services for outside legal counsel and contract lab analysis for testing, according to the water utility report.
Costs to purchase water also rising
The water department expects to pay more to purchase raw water from the Tarrant Regional Water District, with costs increasing by $6.5 million in the coming budget year. Tarrant Regional Water District provides all raw water used by Fort Worthians, which is then treated at city-owned plants. The water district plans to raise rates by 3.35%, primarily to fund the design of its Cedar Creek Wetlands water supply project.
Additionally, payment to the Trinity River Authority of Texas is increasing by about $600,000 because of its capital improvements at the authority’s treatment facilities. The city contracts Trinity River Authority of Texas to treat wastewater for two areas of the city.
Another $5 million of the budget increase is for staff retention strategies and benefit costs, the city manager’s pay-for-performance compensation plan and 13 new staff positions needed to meet increased regulatory requirements, address growth and capital investment needs and improve plant operations.
Now, Fort Worth City Council members will vote to approve the new rate structure as early as their Aug. 27 meeting. The public has until noon Aug. 24 to submit written comments about the proposed rates. The changes won’t take effect until Jan. 1, 2025 if City Council approves.
Kevin Vu is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and contributor to the Fort Worth Report.
