ANDERSON — Over the next four years, the system providing water to local residents and businesses is expected to undergo a major overhaul.
At its Nov. 14 meeting, the Anderson City Council is expected to vote on approval of three bonds to upgrade the system at a cost of $130 million.
The council has already approved $9 million in American Rescue Plan funds, and the Anderson Redevelopment Commission is providing $19 million toward the project.
Anderson Mayor Thomas Broderick Jr. said the city is in dire straits. He said the city has raised water rates only twice in the past 25 years.
“We need to stay on top of it and not let it slide over the years,” he said.
Most of the pipes currently in the water system are at least 35 years old.
The first phase of the project is scheduled to begin next spring with the development of two new wells north of the city that will include a new line to the Lafayette treatment plant and a new transmission line from Cross Street to the water tank on Eighth Street.
The first bond will be issued in 2025 and will expand the Lafayette plant from a capacity of 10 million gallons per day to 14 million gallons daily.
Included in the first bond is the beginning of a process to replace lead service lines in several neighborhoods and at scattered sites.
A second bond, to be issued in 2026, will be used to open a new well field and treatment plant in south Anderson and close the 75-year-old Wheeler treatment plant.
Neal McKee, superintendent of the Anderson Water Department, has indicated the city has identified a new potential well field on East 67th Street.
“The city has been working hard to find water resources in south Anderson,” Jill Curry of Curry and Associates said.
Curry said the majority of the $130 million bond issue will be used to replace existing water lines.
“It will start in the areas with the most leaks and lead pipes,” she said.
Curry said the proposal is to replace 3,300 service lines and 20 miles of main water lines.
She said the bid opening on the project would be in August 2025, with work to be completed by the spring of 2029.
McKee said eight of the city’s 17 wells are over 50 years old and they have lost 70% of their capacity.
McKee said the Wheeler treatment plant is 75 years old, and it has lost more than half its capacity. The plant, he said, treated 9.7 million gallons a day when it opened; it is now at 4.5 million gallons per day.
McKee said the city experiences 104 main water breaks annually and 245 leaks in service lines. He said the city is losing 34% of its treated water because of the breaks, at an annual cost of $440,00.
The final bond issue in 2027 will be used to replace lead pipes in the remaining areas of Anderson.
The bonds will be paid off over both 20 and 35 years.
The city is requesting an increase from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to pay off the bonds and to improve the finances of the water department.
If approved, the rate for an average residential customer is expected to increase from $23.51 to $45.59 starting in 2029. Large customers of the water utility will see an increase from $117,772 monthly to $434,171 starting in 2029.
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