Bastrop is in the process of planning the construction of its third wastewater treatment plant — estimated to cost $11 million — that city officials hope will soon serve areas west of the river.

To pay for it and other wastewater projects totaling $50 million, city utility customers could see their monthly wastewater rates double by 2021 — jumping about $37 per month over five years, according to a rate study commissioned by the city.

The average Bastrop customer currently pays $36.77 per month for wastewater service. That could increase to $73.66 per month, the study found.

Conducted by Nelisa Heddin Consulting, the rate study was meant to forecast how both wastewater and water utility rates could be adjusted in the next five years to pay for a $30 million portion of the capital improvement projects, which include the treatment plant, water tower and new and extended water and wastewater lines.

Utility maintenance funds and impact fees would fund the additional $20 million in identified improvements, Public Works Director Trey Job said.

He added last week that customers shouldn’t fear the study’s findings; they are predicated on a scenario where the city issues all $30 million in debt in the next five years and completes all the recommended projects. He said that’s not likely.

"The city will prioritize and issue the debt at a rate that the ratepayers can handle," Job said. "That’s the worst-case scenario."

Two-thirds of the proposed $30 million debt service would pay for wastewater projects, which would contribute to the large jump in wastewater utility rates. The remaining $10 million would go toward water infrastructure projects and lead to a smaller increase in water rates.

According to the study, the average water customer who uses 5,700 gallons per month currently pays $44.60 per month. That figure could increase to $56.27 per month by 2021 — a rate jump of about $12.

The two rate increases combined would bump up average water and wastewater utility bills by nearly $50 per month, according to the study. The more water a customer uses, the higher his or her rates would jump.

Utility rates are calculated based on the amount of revenue the utility company will need to pay for planned expenses, consultant Nelisa Heddin said Tuesday.

"We are seeing the cost of utility infrastructure continue to go up every year," she said. "It costs us more to provide service today than it did just a few years ago."

City Manager Marvin Townsend said none of the water and wastewater projects have been approved by the council — a requirement — and no rate increases are expected this year. The city is still planning the upgrades and assessing its needs and how those factors could impact customers, he said.

"We are facing what the American Waterworks Association calls an infrastructure crisis," Heddin said. "Essentially, we are finding that we put infrastructure in the ground 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago. And that infrastructure needs to be replaced and rehabilitated. Our customers haven’t paid for that infrastructure in their rates for years. And now they’re going to have to start."

Heddin urged the council to educate the public, so customers understand where their utility dollars are going and how critical the infrastructure upgrades are to the city’s future.

"We have a commodity that is so critical we physically cannot survive without it," she said. "Yet it’s undervalued in our communities, where we literally pour it down the drain.

"As we face a utility infrastructure crisis, as the cost of providing utilities goes up, as water resources become more and more scarce, we have to start shifting that dichotomy and allowing our customers to understand how valuable this service is your community has provided to them."