Topeka utilities director outlines options for phased water, wastewater and stormwater rate increases

Sylvia Davis, director of utilities for Topeka City, told a public feedback session that the city is weighing options for raising water, wastewater and stormwater rates to address aging infrastructure and meet long-term replacement needs.

Davis said she had "no formal proposal" at the meeting but presented figures showing the scale of the system and the funding gap facing the utilities. She said Topeka has about $2.7 billion in drinking-water assets (including roughly 900 miles of water mains), $2.6 billion in wastewater assets (about 815 miles of gravity mains and 21 miles of force mains) and more than $1 billion in stormwater assets.

Why it matters: Davis said recent investments helped reduce main breaks to 358 in 2025—the lowest in 16 years—and cut measured water loss to about 14% in 2025 (the national average is roughly 16%). But she told the audience that meeting an industry-standard 100-year replacement cycle would require substantially higher annual capital investment than current plans provide.

Davis described replacement targets and recent progress: the utility replaced about 12.34 miles of water line from 2023–2025 and has about 12.71 miles scheduled for 2026, yielding an average of a little more than 6.25 miles per year over the past four years. She said maintaining the system on the industry standard schedule could require replacing more than nine miles of water main per year; at current rates Topeka is closer to a 150-year cycle.

On funding, Davis said the last rate package supported a 10-year capital improvement plan of about $433 million, but rising costs have reduced what that plan will accomplish. She said fully replacing the system on a shorter schedule would require roughly $1.2 billion over 10 years; staff modeled reduced-scope scenarios of about $839 million and a phased $775 million approach to make increases more affordable.

Davis gave examples of bill impacts under an across-the-board 6% rate increase: a typical single-family residential customer (a 5/8" meter using ~3,500 gallons per month) would see about $2.73 added to the monthly bill; a 10,000-gallon commercial user about $221; and an industrial user using 10 million gallons about $3,200. She also highlighted alternative approaches, including phasing increases, adjusting declining-block discounts, and applying targeted fees—such as high-strength-waste surcharges and higher irrigation rates—to avoid distributing certain costs across all customers.

A meeting participant asked which neighborhoods would receive line replacements; Davis said staff would display a map at the end of the presentation and that she and colleagues had discussed neighborhood targeting. She encouraged attendees to use the utilities website, the GIS infrastructure map and the city's financial transparency portal for details, and to submit comments via the online survey and city communications email.

Davis closed by reiterating that the session was for input only and that staff will compile feedback for the governing body. She said there was a follow-up meeting scheduled the next night at Garfield Community Center at 5:30 and that paper surveys and a QR code were available at the back of the room.

Next steps: staff will compile public comments and survey results ahead of the utilities' formal proposal to the governing body in the coming weeks.