The new year brings new prices for water in DeKalb.

As of Jan. 1, the DeKalb Sanitary District raised the price of water per unit in the city of DeKalb. The rate is now $2.40 per unit of metered water usage, according to a December press release, which is a $0.40 increase from 2008. One unit of metered water is equal to 748 gallons of water.

“The raise affects people that are utilizing metered water in DeKalb,” said Michael Zima, manager of the DeKalb Sanitary District.

The increase in price comes after seeing a need to fix and replace sewer systems and treatment plant components as well as the increase of other utilities including natural gas and electricity, according to the December press release.

In DeKalb, water is billed quarterly and the increase will be seen on the April 2009 bills.
However, some apartment complexes use a sub-meter system, where the main city water meter is broken off into individual water meters for every unit. This allows landlords to bill tenants monthly based on their usage of water per month.

Laing Management, 701 Lucinda Ave., uses this system for their Eco Park and West Ridge locations, said owner Kathy Laing.

“The tenants pay whatever the cost of water is,” Laing said.

Ryan Trine, senior journalism major, rents from Laing and was unaware of the increase in water prices.

“It’s not a surprise,” Trine said. “Everything is going up.”

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