Pawtucket Water Supply Board seeks 15.2 percent rate increase
PAWTUCKET - Sure it's the stuff of life, but that doesn't mean it comes cheap. The Pawtucket Water Supply Board lodged a formal request with the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission last Thursday seeking to raise water rates by 15.2 percent. If approved, the increase would mean the average bill goes up by about $75, from $445 a year to $520 a year, according to James DeCelles, chief engineer and superintendent of the Pawtucket water system. The Pawtucket Water Supply Board, or PWSB, supplies water to about 99,000 people in Pawtucket, Central Falls, and the Valley Falls section of Cumberland. More than 23,000 total connections service 72,958 people in Pawtucket, 18,000 in Central Falls, and 8,209 in Cumberland, said DeCelles. Water comes from the massive Abbott Run watershed, a tributary of the Blackstone River. Following last week's official rate request, PWSB officials now expect as many as nine months of hearings and testimony before the Public Utilities Commission. The commission is allowed nine months to decide on the rate increase, but its members could make a decision earlier, said DeCelles. A representative for the PUC could not be reached for comment. News of the rate increase request comes as leaders in Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Cumberland, Lincoln, and North Smithfield start discussions about a regional drinking water system, with water potentially purchased from the PWSB and distributed through pipelines to the surrounding communities. That sort of arrangement could prove a financial savings to other towns while providing a much-needed source of income to Pawtucket, say officials. Though the PWSB could stand to gain financially through some form of regional water system, said DeCelles, that benefit wouldn't be realized for a long time, leaving the need for a rate increase sometime in the next year. "This wouldn't be for at least a couple years if everything goes according to plan," he said. "The good news is that the mayors are talking now." This will be the PWSB's first rate increase request since March of 2008, according to DeCelles, and it's one he says is made necessary by a "perfect storm" of circumstances. A sharp decline in water usage has been blamed on record-setting rain in 2009 and 2010, while a down economy with its rise in home and business foreclosures exacerbates the problem. While the PWSB's operating expenses are down, he said, debt service costs associated with a new state-of-the-art water treatment plant built in 2008 are on the rise. "We tried to put this off as long as we could, but just couldn't put it off any longer," said DeCelles. PWSB officials will go through a rigorous period of questioning over why they need a rate increase in the coming weeks, coupled with periods of testimony from members of the public. According to Pawtucket Mayor James Doyle, the PWSB could soon find its first dance partner as talks heat up over regional water talks. He said he's in discussions with Woonsocket Mayor Leo Fontaine over the possibility of selling water to that city as its residents await the construction of a new water treatment plant there. Under consideration is the construction of a distribution pipeline to Woonsocket allowing the outdated water treatment facility there to be taken completely off line during the construction process. According to Doyle, other municipal leaders are also taking notice of Pawtucket's new water system, even as they seek to save some taxpayer dollars. "...Our abundant water supply and our continued re-lining and pipe replacement program all add to our credibility as a regional water supplier..." he wrote in a news release.
