Sewer rates are rising in Langford and residents on septic systems with access to a sewer main will be required to connect by 2018.
About 22,000 residences are already connected to the sewer system, said director of finance Steve Ternent. About 1,000 currently on septic systems will be required to connect in the next three years.
“The plan, of course, is that ultimately all the properties will be connected,” Ternent said.
User fees, which are calculated based on water consumption, will almost quadruple by 2019. They will rise incrementally to $1.199 per cubic metre of water used in 2019, from $0.322 in 2014. In 2015, the fee will be $0.486 per cubic metre of water used.
The sewer capital recovery fee, which is the cost of installing the mains in front of a typical property, will rise to $10,291 in 2019 from $8,890 in 2014. In 2015, the cost will be $9,154.
And the physical connection fee, which is a one-time fee, increased to $1,500 per inch diameter of pipe immediately, a rate that will be steady through 2019. An average pipe is four inches in diameter.
Residents on septic systems that are not near a sewer main will not be required to connect.
Many of the targeted septic systems are located around lakes, said Coun. Denise Blackwell.
“Those were some of the areas we specified for environmental cleanup, so we want to ensure the people around the lakes still on septic hook up soon,” she said.
