The Honolulu Board of Water Supply says it needs to replace miles of aging pipeline and you're going to help pay for it.
Residents will be hit by two rate hikes next year, with more increases to follow.
The proposed hikes still need public hearing and approval of the water board's directors.
If passed, costs will jump twice next year by nearly 10 percent each time, and continue annually through summer 2015.
This is on top of an already steep sewer charge increase plan.
The increases will hit twice in calendar year 2012, first in January then again in July, though that's just once in the fiscal year. The average monthly increase will range between about $5 and $7.
The current water portion of household bills runs just under $40 a month. By fiscal 2016 - which is july 2015, they'll have jumped to more than $66, water only. That's a 70 percent hike compared to today.
"We've seen a rise in the last three fiscal years of increasing main breaks and its our effort to do a proactive program to put more monies toward capital improvements and focus on safe and dependable water supply to our customers," said Dean Nakano of the Board of Water Supply.
"I think we may try and cut down in certain shorter showers less laundry loads but other than that it's something we have to deal with," said Duke Kahanu of Mililani.
Out of Oahu's thousands of miles of pipelines, nearly half are more than 40 years old.
Since last year sewer fees have been set to rise 3 to 5 percent every year until 2035 to fix Oahu's aging wastewater system.
Residents will be hit by two rate hikes next year, with more increases to follow.
The proposed hikes still need public hearing and approval of the water board's directors.
If passed, costs will jump twice next year by nearly 10 percent each time, and continue annually through summer 2015.
This is on top of an already steep sewer charge increase plan.
The increases will hit twice in calendar year 2012, first in January then again in July, though that's just once in the fiscal year. The average monthly increase will range between about $5 and $7.
The current water portion of household bills runs just under $40 a month. By fiscal 2016 - which is july 2015, they'll have jumped to more than $66, water only. That's a 70 percent hike compared to today.
"We've seen a rise in the last three fiscal years of increasing main breaks and its our effort to do a proactive program to put more monies toward capital improvements and focus on safe and dependable water supply to our customers," said Dean Nakano of the Board of Water Supply.
"I think we may try and cut down in certain shorter showers less laundry loads but other than that it's something we have to deal with," said Duke Kahanu of Mililani.
Out of Oahu's thousands of miles of pipelines, nearly half are more than 40 years old.
Since last year sewer fees have been set to rise 3 to 5 percent every year until 2035 to fix Oahu's aging wastewater system.
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