SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — Earlier in the week, city council officials approved an increase in water and sewer rates.

Starting Oct. 1, the average San Angelo home that uses about 4,000 gallons of water per month will see an increase of $2.58 in their rates. The city’s executive of public works says it will help cover operational and maintenance costs impacted by inflation.

“Really, our biggest jump has been in the chemicals, when we’re talking about the treatment of the water or the treatment of the wastewater, and those chemicals, the polymers, all of those things, but chlorines we’ve really seen a huge increase in those, especially since water Storm Uri, that’s when we really started seeing some really big increases in those areas,” Shane Kelton, executive director of the City of San Angelo’s Public Works department, said.

Kelton says there hasn’t been a water utility increase since 2015. He says the new rates align with the recently approved budget for the 2024 fiscal year, which also begins Oct. 1.

“That $2.58 is based on the average user that we have, and that really is very close to what the average user is: it’s 4,000 gallons per month,” Kelton said. “Most of those are households of three or four. But again, the ways, one way that you can offset this increase is by less consumption.”

Kelton says he hopes the public sees the increase in rates as bearable.

“Being transparent to the public is very important,” Kelton said. “And so, we want to make sure that everybody knows and understands what goes into these rate increases that it’s not just a not some arbitrary thing that that the council or the staff, you know, came up with and that there’s a reason behind why these rate increases were necessary.”