The Hampton Roads Sanitation District, the regional wastewater treatment provider for Isle of Wight and Surry counties and the city of Suffolk, will increase its sewer fees effective July 1.

According to a public notice in the Times’ June 4 edition, the 2024 rate of $8.28 per 100 cubic feet, which equates to roughly $11.07 per 1,000 gallons, will increase 9% to $9.03 per 100 cubic feet, or roughly $12.07 per 1,000 gallons.

HRSD’s flat rate for single-family residences with 1-inch or larger meters, will increase 20% from $2.17 per day to $2.61. However, the flat rate for residences with meters smaller than 1 inch, which accounts for 99% of HRSD single-family customers, will decrease by 30% from $2.17 to $1.52 per day.

Leila Rice, an HRSD spokeswoman, said HRSD’s governor-appointed commission approved its fiscal year 2026 budget, which includes the rate increases, at its May 27 public meeting. But per HRSD’s enabling law, the rate increase must be advertised for four consecutive weeks ahead of its effective date.

“For every dollar paid by ratepayers for wastewater treatment, 54 cents goes to infrastructure projects, 23 cents goes to operational costs and 23 cents goes toward personnel,” Rice said. “With that, the average residential ratepayer pays about one cent per gallon for wastewater treatment services.”

Rice said the rate increases are being driven by several factors, including increased operational costs for chemicals, which are up 11.8% this year, and utilities needed for wastewater treatment, which are up 8.3%.

“We are also in the peak spending phase of our Capital Improvement Program for SWIFT and other regulatory-driven infrastructure needs tied to our Integrated Plan, which accounts for 51% of this fiscal year’s budget,” Rice said.

SWIFT, an acronym for “Sustainable Water Initiative for Tomorrow,” is the name HRSD has given to a water treatment process that restores wastewater to drinking water standards and re-injects it deep into the ground to replenish the Potomac Aquifer. The state Department of Environmental Quality began using a new model in 2012 to more accurately forecast demand on the Potomac from groundwater withdrawal permits, and contends demand has reached unsustainable levels.

HRSD completed a prototype SWIFT treatment plant on the York River in York County in 2017. Suffolk hosts its own SWIFT plant, which Rice last year said can recharge the Potomac with up to 1 million gallons of SWIFT water per day.

HRSD’s first full-scale SWIFT facility is currently under construction at its James River treatment plant in Newport News, and is slated to be complete by fall 2026. Once that happens, it will be capable of recharging the Potomac with up to 16 million gallons per day.  

Upgrades to the Nansemond River SWIFT plant in Suffolk are also underway, with construction scheduled between fall 2025 and spring 2029. Once complete, the Suffolk plant will have the capacity to recharge up to 34 million gallons per day.  

Several HRSD member localities are proposing their own sewer rate increases to keep pace with HRSD’s planned price hike.

Isle of Wight’s adopted 2025-26 budget, which also takes effect July 1, will raise the county’s sewer rate from $7 per 1,000 gallons to $9, or 28.5%. Smithfield’s adopted 2025-26 budget will raise the town’s sewer rate to $6 per 1,000 gallons, up 50% from the current $3.99 rate. The city of Suffolk is proposing to increase its sewer rate from $7.68 per 100 cubic feet, or $10.26 per 1,000 gallons, up 2.6% to $7.88 per 100 cubic feet, or $10.53 per 1,000 gallons. 

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:05 p.m. on June 5 to correct that HRSD’s rate for single-family residential meters measuring less than an inch will decrease by 65 cents or 30% to $1.52 per day. The flat rate that will increase 20% from $2.17 per day to $2.61 pertains only to 1-inch or larger meters.