City sets new sewer charges for USBR, others

Coulee Dam’s city council voted Wednesday to sewer service rates that will charge low-income customers a little less and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation a lot more.

Low income senior citizens and disabled residents who qualify for a discount will find slightly better rates, with discount levels bumped from 25 to 30 percent and from 30 to 35 percent.

Mayor Greg Wilder said the increased discount would make very little difference, about a couple hundred dollars, to the town’s budget, but could make a meaningful difference to those who qualify.

The USBR’s sewer bill, however, will go up considerably after the change approved to the amount of equivalent residential units, or ERUs, the new resolution states the bureau uses.

The USBR has been charged for 88 ERUs, but will now be charged for 114. The change was determined after a study of the amount of material actually handled by the city’s wastewater treatment plant and a process of elimination to determine where unaccounted-for flow was coming from.

No other changes were made to the sewer rates last week.