Four dollars for a gallon of gas. Another water rate increase. The latest outrage: sewer bills.

By now, all 24,000 customers of the Charleston Sanitary board should have received bills reflecting the full impact of the 42 percent rate increase City Council members approved in February.

The rate hike started showing up in May bills on a pro-rated basis - some days at the lower rate, some at the higher. But the June bills should all be at the higher rate, General Manager Larry Roller said.

A typical family that uses 4,500 gallons of water a month now pays an extra $11.42 a month, or $38.80, for sewer service.

But if customers are in an uproar about the relatively large increase, the Sanitary Board in North Charleston hasn't heard about it.

"It's been quiet," said Bill Collison, the finance manager. "We've gotten some inquiries. We explain why it was needed. There's been no protest of note."

As consultants explained to council members earlier this year, the annual $5.9 million rate increase was essential to help pay for long-delayed repairs to the city's sewage collection system. Roughly half of the increase goes toward capital improvements, or what Roller calls "renewals and replacements."

In layman's terms, that means the board wants to replace decades-old sanitary sewer lines in about a half-dozen city hollows. When the sewer system was first built, workers simply laid terra cotta pipes along creek beds and encased them in concrete. "It was the easy way to do it then," Roller said.

Years later, the ground has shifted, joints have opened so raw sewage leaks out and, after storms, rain water infiltrates the system - along with sand, gravel and other debris.

"The number one priority is to replace the Kanawha Two-Mile and Sugar Creek sewers," Roller said. "South Ruffner is another, Woodward Branch and Magazine Hollow/Garrison Avenue."

Porter Hollow jumped to the top of the list when city officials decided to do other street repairs in the area. "Because the city was already working there, it was cost-efficient to do our portion."

About 25 percent of the increase goes into a depreciation fund Roller established four years ago when he was named general manager. The fund is used for routine maintenance on the system - upgrading pump stations, fixing manholes and other improvements.

Before that, the board had to borrow money whenever it needed to do maintenance, he said. "No business would ever do something like that. When I came here I said, 'What are we doing?' It's a helluva way to run a business."

The rest of the increase goes toward "operation and maintenance" items - the cost of running the system. Chemical prices are rising, as are the cost of fuel, health care and salaries for employees. Roller also plans to hire several engineers to design improvements to the system.

Many customers probably remember another big rate increase, not all that long ago.

"It went up 64 percent in 2004," Roller said. "The 2004 increase addressed treatment plant issues. We built essentially a new treatment plan. That was by an order by the DEP.

"We're starting to address the collection system issues, which include the long-term combined sewer overflow issues, which in 2005 we presented to the DEP in a long-term control plan.

"That, in 2005 dollars, was a $213 million plan. We've been trying to chip away at that to try to reduce that cost by trying to do some things that are routine maintenance that haven't been routine for 40 years."

Even so, Roller would not predict where rates might go in future years. "You don't know what regulatory issues might be imposed on you. In a year or two or three, the pharmaceutical issue in the water may be imposed on us. I don't know if it will be on the water treatment or the sanitary side.

"That's just an example. Phosphorus and nitrogen could come up first. That's the issue in Chesapeake Bay.

"I don't have a crystal ball. I won't begin to predict what will happen even next year."

Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 348-5102.