Louisville residents can expect their wastewater services bills to increase by 3.9% starting in September.The Metropolitan Sewer District Board approved the rate increase earlier this week, billing it as matching “the lowest rate increase in the past 20 years.” Rates for wastewater services incr eased by the same amount last year, too. The 3.9% rate hike translates to an average $3.23 increase in customers’ utility bills.Tony Parrott, MSD’s executive director, said the agency needs to increase rates to cover the cost of meeting federal clean water requirements and addressing aging infrastructure. He said the board does everything it can to “respect our community’s pocket books while ensuring quality service.”“We take this job very seriously and in order to do that we must continue to invest in our infrastructure, invest in our future,” Parrott said at a news conference.The utility company claims it will need to make $1.2 billion in critical infrastructure investments over the next five years. That includes a $230 million replacement of Paddy’s Run Flood Pumping Station, scheduled to be completed next year, and a $285 million modernization of the Morris Forman Water Quality Treatment Center, Kentucky’s largest wastewater treatment facility.MSD also announced a long-term, multimillion-dollar effort in 2024 to address foul smells coming from neighborhood sewer drains by replacing catch basins and installing new odor control systems at pumping stations.The MSD board also approved a 2% rate increase for Oldham County customers, which translates to an average increase of $1.59 per month.Currently, Oldham County’s MSD utility rates are higher than in Jefferson County, because of the rate schedule Oldham was on before the company took over its wastewater services. The rates will eventually even out. ...read more read less