ST. LOUIS — St. Louis City leaders are getting even closer to approving a 40% water rate increase.
This rate increase comes after close to 20 water main breaks popped up all over town in about a week.
In the last eight months, the city has dealt with more than 180 water main breaks.
Kate Black said Thursday morning when she looked out the window of her home on Delor Street she saw little fountains of water coming up through the asphalt.
“My car was actually parked right where the majority of the water is coming up, so my husband moved it. And then it just kept kind of getting worse throughout the day,” Black said.
It's one block away from another water main break the city is already working to repair.
Black is very concerned about the possibility her water might be shut off.
“The pressure is starting to get lower. I have an in-home daycare, so we have six babies throughout the day, and then I have five of my own kids and the two of us. So if we don't have water, it's going to be kind of a big issue,” Black said.
It’s crumbling pipes like the one that crews pulled out of the ground on Arsenal that have been in the ground as long as workers can remember. One crew member said it’s possibly been there since the 1940s and they are becoming a problem all over the city.
“Ever since this weekend, it's been almost every block has had at least one incident. It's been a little difficult to get around. You never know if you're going to be able to take that street since they're one-way streets,” resident Kelly Boeckmann said.
Crews have been working for days on a water main break at Arsenal and Jamieson.
The cracking pipes are one of the big reasons the St. Louis Board of Aldermen say they want to approve a rate increase that is going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of an additional $5 per bill.
There hasn’t been a rate increase in more than a decade.
“I would be willing to pay a little bit more if this was actually going to get fixed. Absolutely. It is strange, I think, that some people are saying the timing of the rate increase and then all of this popping up,” Black said.
Boeckmann said she agrees.
“I wouldn't mind paying more if it prevents things like this and updates the system but, we'll have to see,” Boeckmann said.
St. Louis Aldermen voted 12-2 in favor of the water rate increase, but it still needs one more vote before getting sent to the mayor’s desk.