Lockport council and staff outline causes of high water bills, promise targeted testing and follow-up

City of Lockport officials and water staff spent the bulk of a council meeting responding to complaints about high water bills and water quality, describing a “perfect storm” of factors behind the recent spike and committing to targeted testing and follow-up with affected residents.

The council’s mayor and water staff said the higher bills reflect a planned, multi-year rate increase to fund a roughly $60 million wastewater treatment plant replacement, seasonal higher household use in January and an extra billing week that pushed balances higher for many customers. Mayor Steve (mayor) summarized the immediate cause: "You had the perfect storm of the new rate, the higher usage that tends to come in that month and that extra week."

The city framed the billing spike within a longer infrastructure program. Staff described a 10-plus year capital improvement plan (CIP) that has replaced old water mains and repaired or rebuilt wells, and said the city has spent roughly $181 million on infrastructure improvements to date, with about half of that on water, sewer and storm work. City staff said those projects were bundled to save money and to coordinate road reconstruction and pipe replacement.

Why it matters: the CIP work and well upgrades are intended to improve water flow and reduce…