Bloomington, IN – You wouldn’t think that the quality of your water in the pipes of Bloomington could potentially be dangerous, but with century-old pipes, it’s a possibility.

On February 20, five main water breaks happened throughout the city of Bloomington. As the week continued, there were seven more main water breaks. Though, pipes are more sensitive to the cold weather it came back on a miscommunication at the Bloomington Water Treatment Plant.

There are 430 miles of 75-100-year old pipes run through the Bloomington streets that send the cherished water into your homes to allow you to keep yourself hydrated, cook, and do your morning and nightly routines. Bloomington City Council knows this and took initiative on the matter and approved an 18 percent increase for residential and a 40 percent increase for industrial and commercial, such as IU, in the water rate.

For residents, we will see an upcharge of about $45 in the water rate bill. Some would say a hefty price to pay with a baseline of $3.73 per 1,000 gallons of use per month.

Currently, the city of Bloomington is on the 2016 budget which only allows for two miles of piping to be replaced each year. Which has not been revised until now. If you do the math, that only allows for two miles to be replaced for each year for the next 215 years and just a little bit over nine percent on the budget.

Bloomington is currently spending $1.7 million on utilities which goes towards replacing the water mains throughout the city. Plus, IU has been investing millions of dollars over the years to help out with improving the quality of water. It begs to ask the question of where the money is really going.

This proposal is already approved by the city of Bloomington but needs to be approved by Governor Eric Holcomb and the state of Indiana. If approved, these rates could go up as early as 2022.