Council committee approves water/sewer deadline extension

Atlanta’s sewer and water rates are some of the highest in the nation. An agreement approved by a city council committee today would keep those rates the same for an extra 13 years.

The federally mandated upgrade of Atlanta’s water and sewer system costs $4 billion. Most of the work so far has been to fix the sewer system. There’s still $445 million dollars in repairs to the entire system. The agreement between the city and the federal government includes a plan to cover that cost.

City chief financial officer Jim Beard says Atlantans will still see the high price tag of the repairs reflected on their water and sewer bills.