Toledo's aging water-treatment system is poised to receive a $36 million investment, thanks to a substantial increase in water rates this year. Even so, city officials said they expect to soon seek yet another rate hike, although they did not specify an amount.

The city's Department of Public Utilities has asked Toledo City Council to approve the issuance of up to $40 million in bonds, to be paid back over 20 to 30 years with the help of the increased water revenue. Toledo residents now pay 9 percent more for their water than in 2010, and further rate increases are planned for the next three years.

The investment will pay for a slew of repairs and upgrades to Toledo's water-treatment plant, the pump station that brings in water from Lake Erie, and waterlines across the city.

Repair needs have become glaringly obvious in recent months, with public utilities officials reporting a number of breakdowns and water-main breaks.

In early August, an equipment failure at the low-service pump station in Jerusalem Township prompted a four-hour scramble to get the system back online before emergency water supplies ran out. The failure came from a pipe cooling system that had already been scheduled for repair.

Bond proceeds will allow for some improvements at the station, such as the replacement of one of the station's four pumps, which date back to 1941, plant commissioner David Leffler said.

Toledo's waterlines, some of them almost 100 years old, suffer frequent ruptures. Last year the city averaged one water-main leak a day, Mr. Leffler said.

On Thursday, a waterline that supplies the University of Toledo's main campus failed. The same day, another line on Oregon Road in Northwood broke.

The improvements plan would allocate $6.5 million for replacement of problem waterlines.

Other upgrades would include construction of a chlorination facility; replacement of a water plant roof that has been shedding chunks of concrete; efficiency improvements to the pump system; and the purchase of new valves and equipment, much of which now dates to 1941.

"We do capital improvement projects all the time, but we're getting to the point now where we needed to do more, and that's why we had the 9 percent rate increase," Public Utilities Director David Welch said. "It's that same old scenario: You can only put a bandage on it so often. You've got to finally make the repair, and that's what we're looking at."

But while the $36 million will tide Toledo over for a couple more years -- the department is not sure it will use the full $40 million at this point -- there are still many more improvements that need to be made, officials insist. For that reason, Mr. Welch said he expects to ask council to approve yet another rate hike by early next year.

The rate proposal's magnitude, he said, remains to be determined.

The city has hired outside consultants to draft a 20-year master plan for the water department, and that will help officials determine the next round of upgrades and the amount of revenue needed, Mr. Welch said. The plan should be finished within a couple of months.

Sewer rates also could rise again.

The city secured a 3 percent yearly increase in sanitary sewer rates in February, but that was far below the 6.75 percent rate raise originally sought by the Bell administration. Council also approved an additional $15.82 fixed quarterly charge to pay for federally mandated separation of the city's sanitary sewers from its storm drains.

Mr. Welch said the sanitary sewer system is in desperate need of work. The plant dates back to 1925, Mr. Leffler said.

Under the rate increases enacted in February, quarterly bills for water and sewer use from the city of Toledo took the biggest increase this year over the 2010 charges, and the costs are to increase at lesser percentages through 2014 under the rate structures approved by council.

The Bell administration has said the average customer who uses 3,000 cubic feet of water every three months will pay $186.75 for that time period this year, a jump in cost from the average quarterly bill of $164 in 2010.

In 2012, the cost will increase by an additional $7 a quarter; in 2013, it jumps another $7.40 a quarter, and an additional $7.85 in 2014. Those costs could be higher if the Department of Public Utilities is granted another increase.

A person with a homestead exemption discount who uses an average of 1,000 cubic feet of water a quarter paid about $58.86 during that time period in 2010. That cost will jump to $72.75 this year. The cost will again increase to $74.86 in 2012; $77.10 in 2013; and $79.46 in 2014.

The bills are a combination of water, sanitary sewer, and storm-drain charges. They affect all Toledo water and sewer customers, whether they live in the city or the suburbs.

The fixed surcharges appear on bills as "TWI fixed," which stands for Toledo Waterways Initiative. It is a $15.82 quarterly charge for regular users throughout all four years, and $11.87 quarterly for users with a homestead exemption. The Bell administration originally wanted greater increases.

Contact Claudia Boyd-Barrett at: cbarrett@theblade.com or 419-724-6272.

First Published September 27, 2011, 4:15 a.m.