COLA raises rates by 3 percent, citing rising prices, maintenance and repair costs

Customers who buy their water from the City of Lebanon Authority, roughly 70,000 residents, may have noticed a slight increase in their water rates this month.

Here's why ...

According to a press release sent by COLA, rates for the year in Cornwall Borough, Lebanon City and 10 other municipalities throughout the county have increased by 3%, an 11 cent jump from $3.73 to $3.84 per 1,000 gallons.

Cornwall Borough Council recently explored the idea of securing its own water source after announcing in November that they had been informed their rates would increase by 10% in January of this year. According to the press release, that figure was incorrect.

According to Cornwall Borough manager Cody Rhoads, when the borough did their budget in November of last year, they were told that rates could increase by up to 10%. Because of that, the borough budgeted for a 10% increase.

"We assumed it was going to be 10%," he said. "You can't assume for 5% and then it is 10%, so we went with the top number and it came in lower."

Rhoads said that the previous three COLA increases had not been passed on to the costumers in the borough, and because they budgeted for 10%, they will likely be able to hold their rates the same for the next increase.

The release said that COLA isn't in business to turn a profit, but an authority operated by neighbors and governed by an experienced board of trustees that's made its primary mission to provide safe drinking water and reliable sewer service at the lowest possible prices.

Price increases, the press release said, are often out of the authorities' hands as the cost of water treatment chemical and watermain materials have increased over the last two years.

One example, chlorine, an essential chemical in killing harmful bacteria, has more than tripled in its price per pound since 2021.

Maintaining and upgrading the authorities infrastructure, such as water mains and service lines, a never-ending task with some parts of it approaching 75-100 years in age, is also expensive. Roughly 100 miles of water mains made of cast iron are scheduled to be replaced in the coming years with a projected cost of $2-3 million per mile.

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COLA has also committed to replacing thousands of lead and iron service lines connecting directly to homes and businesses at the cost of $5,000 per line.

Combined with governmental regulations which can also raise rates, water rate increases could have easily been much higher, according to the release.

“We are facing increased requirements from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to address issues such as pipe replacements and potential water supply limitations," COLA's executive director Jon Beers said in the release, "As we have seen on the West Coast, particularly in California, water is quickly becoming a tightly regulated and sought after natural resource.”

COLA is currently working to renew its water allocation permit from DEP, which determines how much water the authority is allowed to pull from the Siegrist Dam and Swatara Creek, its two water resources. Until a new agreement has been reached the DEP is allowing them to operate under their previous permit conditions, which allows them to pull 11 millions gallons per day.

The release claims that the restrictions DEP wants to place on COLA would greatly reduce annual water supplies to existing costumers and limit future growth. If those restrictions go through, COLA would be forced to begin the expensive and time consuming process of looking for additional water resources.

“We are very fortunate in Lebanon County to have several water supplies and abundant rainfall. Our ancestors did some great planning to find and develop the water sources we enjoy. In the late-1800s they identified an area in Schuylkill County as a possible source of water for Lebanon County. Today the Siegrist Dam is in a protected mountainous, forested area of the PA State Game Lands, and provides wonderful, clean water. But water safety and security for the future is essential, and it won’t come without an investment.”

Daniel Larlham Jr. is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at DLarlham@LDNews.com or on Twitter @djlarlham

This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: COLA raises rates, citing rising prices, maintenance and repair costs