RATE HIKE CALLED BARGAIN

Cape Girardeau County residents are getting a break on their water with the proposed 5 percent increase, said Kent Turner, St. Louis County vice president for water rates.

"Anything around 4 or 5 percent is incredibly reasonable," he said.

What people don't understand, he added, is that treatment requirements are different from 10 years ago.

The federal government has established lead and pesticide guidelines in the past decade.

With that, Turner said, the cost to meet those standards is higher.

St. Louis County just passed a 13.1 percent rate increase.

Turner cited the stricter regulations and the "aging infrastructure" for the increase.

The proposed increase in water fees for Cape Girardeau residents is 6.8 cents per 100 cubic feet of water (748 gallons) or less than one-hundredth of a cent per gallon.

The proposed rate increase would go toward the expansion of the water system's production capacity.

The expansion is needed to meet an increase in consumer demand.

To accomplish this, the Cape Rock Water Treatment Plant would have to be expanded at an estimated cost of $5 million.

The 5 percent increase in the commodity charge represents an incremental method of reaching necessary funding levels by 1997-1998 with the least impact on customers.

The city staff estimated the annual debt service on the money for plant expansion at $453,000.

The increase would provide an annual revenue of $122,000. However, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to amend the ordinance by stipulating that the increase will not go into effect until Jan. 1.

Water Systems Manager Tom Taggart said moving the increase startup to January instead of November will translate into a difference of $20,000, about $10,000 a month.

Taggart originally calculated the increase to begin in January. But when the city council voted to keep all fee increases at 5 percent or less, he had to come up with a different formula.

The change is fine with Taggart because it was the council's decision.

But, he warns that in the future there is going to have to be funding to defray the costs of the new construction.

Expansion of the Cape Rock plant is a must by the year 2000.

Construction is expected to begin as early as 1996 and no later than 1997.

With continued development in the west part of Cape Girardeau, the demand for water will only increase.

Cape hit its peak in June when residents used 6.5 million gallons of water.

"You can see that if we're hitting our peak a few times a year right now," Taggart said, "two years isn't that far away in terms of taking care of the increasing demand."

One water source that could make the cost of treating water less expensive and safer is ground water from the Mississippi River alluvium.

Preliminary tests to determine if the city can tap this resource via alluvial wells have been favorable.

Taggart likened an alluvial well to a sponge that allows water to flow through while blocking out particles and debris.

The primary site for ground water development is 20 to 30 acres of alluvium immediately downstream from Cape Rock on the Missouri (west) side of the Mississippi River. Five sites were drilled to the 150-foot level to test the alluvial materials near Cape Rock.

The city won't have the final report for about five weeks, but initial tests are encouraging.

Taggart said the studies found "relatively thick gravel formations" that could provide sufficient water.