2023 Sewer Rate Increase Notice
To Hillsborough residents and sewer users:
The Hillsborough Water & Sewer Commission operates a water treatment plant at Loon Pond capable of producing one million gallons per day of drinking water and a wastewater treatment plant on Norton Drive with a daily capacity of 600,000 gallons per day of wastewater.
For the year 2022 the water treatment plant produced on average approximately 200,000 gallons per day of drinking water.
During that same period the wastewater treatment plant received an average of 295,000 gallons per day of wastewater, with flows varying from a low of 119,000 gallons per day for the month of August to a high of 492,000 gallons per day for the month of March.
This additional flow at the treatment plant is coming from Infiltration and Inflow, known as I and I.
Infiltration is groundwater seeping into the collection system through holes, cracks, joint failures and faulty connections.
Inflow is stormwater flowing into the collection system through roof drains, foundation drains and sump pumps, storm drain cross connections and through manhole covers.
When towns such as Hillsborough were required to stop dumping raw sewage into local rivers and instead construct wastewater treatment plants, funds were provided both for the construction of the treatment plants and the replacement of aging collection systems. Rather than replace the existing collection system, Hillsborough chose to expand its collection system, extending sewer service to the following areas;
Bible Hill Road; Blair Avenue; Boulder Road; Center Road from 22 Center Road north to 54 Center Road; Childs Way and Windsor Terrace; Harvey Way; Henniker Street from Norton Drive northeast to 225 Henniker Street; Old Henniker Road from Henniker Street north to Preston Street; Myrtle Street west of Church Street to 70 Myrtle Street; West Main Street from the present Hillsboro House of Pizza west to the present American Self Defense Concepts karate studio; and Woodlawn Avenue.
In the ensuing years the collection system continued to expand through the construction of new lines by private developers, with service now extending to Bradford Circle; Gibson, Meeting Hill and Symonds Roads; Hill Street; Myrtle Street from 70 Myrtle to 84 Myrtle; portions of Pine Ridge Road; and the Colonial Heights subdivision. During this time sewer services were also extended to the Garden Gate condominium development; the Willow Rock apartments and the new Middle and High Schools.
While the commission has spent an average of $45,425 per year since 2015 attempting to reduce I and I through trenchless patching techniques, as well as the replacement of sewer lines on Butler Street and a portion of Bridge Street (with 50% of the cost paid by the town), the amount of infiltration and inflow has not dropped appreciably. The original collection system, constructed in the late 1800’s, is composed mainly of vitrified clay (VC) sewer lines and brick manholes, all of which have long passed their expected lifespan.
In April of last year, the commission received a Wastewater Asset Management Plan (Sewer AMP) prepared by Underwood Engineers. The plan identified $31.2 million in capital improvements over the next 50 years, with $14.8 million of that projected in the next 10 years, largely due to pipeline and manholes approaching or beyond the end of their useful life.
The estimated $31.2 million asset management funding over 50 years equates to annual asset management funding of $624,000 per year. Using $14.8 million over 10 years equates to annual asset management funding of $1.48 million. In the opinion of our engineers this did not seem like a realistic goal, so the commission has decided to work toward funding the $624,000 per year option.
In December of 2022 the commission received the second part of our long-term asset management planning for the sewer system – the Sewer Rate Study (SRS) and System Development Charge (SDC) Recommendations. The purpose of the SRS and SDC are to help the commission plan for implementing the infrastructure improvements recommended in the Wastewater Asset Management Plan.
Sewer users, with the exception of OSRAM, are billed at a flat per-unit rate, with one unit equated to a single-family dwelling, which pays $480 per year for sewer services. The NHDES periodically performs Sewer Rate Surveys to compare annual sewer bills of New Hampshire communities. The state’s survey is normalized to 197 gallons per day for the average household and Underwood calculated annual sewer bills of nearby communities at this consumption for comparison with Hillsborough’s current sewer rates and the state average.
The study showed Hillsborough’s sewer rate to be $286 less than the state average annual sewer bill; $359 less than the average annual residential sewer bill (197 gallons per day) for the Town of Antrim and $758 less than the average annual residential sewer bill (197 gallons per day) for the Town of Henniker.
Underwood’s recommendations for sewer rates are an immediate 25% increase to bring annual asset management funding to approximately 46% in fiscal year 2023, and another 25% increase in fiscal year 2026 to bring annual asset management funding to approximately 80% of the $625,000 annual target.
The sewer budget approved at the 2023 town meeting reflects this initial rate increase, with the bottom line rising from $894,804 in 2022 to $1,063,694 in 2023, an overall increase of 19%. The actual per-unit user fee will rise from $120 to $150 per quarter.
While the commission recognizes that the recent inflationary trends in the economy have placed a significant financial burden on our users, we see this rate increase as the only way to fund the necessary maintenance and upgrades to our existing infrastructure to improve treatment efficiency and ultimately reduce treatment costs.
Town of Hillsborough Water & Sewer Commission
Peter Mellen, Chairman
Dana Clow
Dave Lewis