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St. Louis wants to increase water rates. Here's how you can weigh in. 7%
By Lacretia Wimbley0%
4/21/2026, 10:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 27 faulty reasoning types, including Optimism Bias, Confirmation Bias, and Framing Effect, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 17.2% saturation with 209 hits. Analysis detected 1,370 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,216 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 23.1% and a BS Rank of 7% (15,737 of 16,813 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 93.60% of the article peer group.
St.
Louis has been making quick fixes to repair its drinking water system for too long, officials say.
Now it needs a more sustainable solution — and that comes with a cost.
The city Water Division is hosting a town hall Tuesday evening to hear residents’ thoughts about a plan to increase water rates over the next six years.
Residents would pay roughly $29 more per month by 2032 if each rate increase is approved.
The first proposed rate hike includes two 18% increases in 2026 and 2027, followed by three 6% increases in 2028 through 2030 and two subsequent smaller increases in 2031 and 2032.
Officials said that despite the increases, city water rates would remain among the lowest in the region.
Residents on average pay around $35 to $45 every month, according to the Water Division.
The last time city water rates increased was in 2024.
City leaders said the proposal is a result of a water rate sufficiency study conducted last year by engineering consulting firm Black & Veatch.
It found rate increases are needed to address staffing shortages, rising material costs, aging infrastructure and recurring breaks.
Special Assistant to the Water Commissioner Spencer Gould said it would also help reduce emergency spending and contractor expenses.
He compared the city’s water infrastructure to an old car.
“If you have a $20,000 car, spending $6,000 a year to (repair) it isn't necessarily the best course of action.
Sometimes you need to just buy a new car.
We have some parts of our treatment system that we are continuing to do patchwork repairs on, because we're not in a fiscal position where we can fully replace them,” Gould said.
He said the proposed increase is part of a capital improvement plan that will help the city become proactive instead of reactive.
Saving money and hiring staff
Gould said increasing the water rate over time will help the division gain funds that will save residents money in the long run.
During a Board of Aldermen Public Infrastructure and Utilities Committee meeting in March, officials said the division was projecting a nearly $10 million deficit by the end of June.
Gould said the water sector as a whole is seeing expenses rise faster than inflation — and in St.
Louis, that’s due to aging infrastructure, construction costs, changing regulatory requirements and workforce needs.
Over $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds have been allocated to the Water Division in recent years, Gould noted, which has helped with infrastructure work and the ongoing customer assistance program.
City officials are also looking to shift more than $6 million in ARPA funds away from their original projects and toward fixing water infrastructure issues in St.
Louis.
The city has yet to allocate any Rams settlement money to the division after stalemating on the Transform STL Act last year, which would have allocated $40 million.
Gould said the Water Division has been operating at a deficit for about seven years, but ARPA funding has helped provide some time.
For two years the city has also been working to identify lead pipes throughout its water system following a rule issued in 2024 by the Environmental Protection Agency requiring that lead pipes be replaced within 10 years.
Gould has previously said replacing the pipes could cost a half-billion dollars.
Children are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure.
It can lead to trouble learning, behavioral issues and poor kidney function.
Gould said it’s a challenge to identify lead pipes that were laid down nearly two centuries ago.
As of February, 50,000 water lines remained unidentified, but he said that number has decreased.
In the meantime, Gould said the division feeds chemicals into the water so that lead pipes in the system don’t corrode and leach into drinking water.
He said the increase will also help pay for corrosion control.
A water rate increase would lead to higher wages for division staff members and give them the ability to hire more people, Gould said.
Mayor Cara Spencer said last week that city workers will soon receive a wage increase of at least 3%.
“For us to be able to pay for that, we need to make sure that we're collecting enough,” Gould said.
“We need a stable workforce, and we're competing for skilled operators, maintenance staff, technical positions all over our division.
This proposal would allow us to maintain competitive pay.
Hopefully it'll attract new talent and critical roles, or roles that we can develop as we build out a capital improvement plan.”
The average pay for Water Division workers was $72,069 a year as of 2025.
A City of St.
Louis Water Division vehicle passes a security checkpoint in January 2024 in Forest Park Southeast.
The water division is hosting a town hall Tuesday evening to hear residents’ thoughts about a plan to increase water rates over the next six years.
The last time the city's water rates were increased was in 2024.
Unpaid water bills
The city is continuing to collect past-due bills after a five-year moratorium was lifted last year.
The moratorium was instituted during the pandemic for residents unable to pay their water bills.
Residents who were not impacted by last year’s May 16 tornado were told to resume paying their water bills in September.
City officials said the city had drained its financial reserves while operating with deficits.
As of late last year, millions of bills were still due from more than $16,000 accounts, including nonresidential customers, Spencer said.
The city also increased its payment plan options for customers from 12 months to 24 months.
Household income eligibility has also been expanded from 60% of the area median income or below to 80% or below.
Gould said the proposed water rate increase is not intended to cover unpaid water bills, but to ensure long-term sustainability.
“We've had a lot of success in addressing overdue bills,” Gould said.
“We've been able to get that number down primarily with those programs that we have in place.
Having a stable system puts us in a better place, in a better position to work with customers.”
Gould said he expects the Board of Aldermen will introduce legislation for the proposed water rate increase next month.
He said residents will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns during Tuesday’s town hall.
“We're going to put forward our proposal that was determined by our rate sufficiency study.
I don't think (those numbers are) going to change, but I think what is going to change is how we get there, and so how it's laid out,” Gould said.
“I think as a division, we're interested in an affordability rate that could potentially be utilized to offset some of these costs for at-risk populations.
How that would be implemented, in which ways that should be implemented, are all very important things that we want the public's feedback on.”
The town hall is taking place at 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday at the Buder Library at 4401 Hampton Ave. in the St.
Louis Hills neighborhood.
It will be livestreamed by STL-TV.
Officials said another town hall is tentatively in the works for sometime in May at the O’Fallon Park Rec Complex at 4343 W.
Florissant Ave.
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