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A $22-million revenue shortfall is prompting calls for a new approach to billing for water and sewer services in Ottawa.

Otherwise, the city will be forced in the coming years to rely heavily on increasing levels of debt to maintain the current system and, at the same time, pay for future growth.

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“Things have got to change, we can’t continue billing this way because it’s not sustainable in the long run,” city treasurer Marian Simulik told the Citizen a day after tabling the 2015 budget.

The draft budget, which must still be debated and approved by council, proposes to increase water and sewer rates by six per cent this year. That works out to approximately $48 a year for the average household.

But the budget also highlights a worrisome trend that shows revenue collected from water bills isn’t keeping pace with the actual cost of operating the system.

Drinking water, sanitary and stormwater services combined were to generate $318.5 million in revenue last year, but the forecast Simulik used when putting together the 2015 budget showed that the city collected $296.7 million — a shortfall of $21.8 million.