DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County residents could see a six percent increase in their water bills beginning in January.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Thurmond made his pitch to county commissioners at a workshop Monday, saying the money would fund critical improvements at the county’s only water treatment plant.

“DeKalb is the only major county in metro Atlanta that has only one source of fresh water,” he said. “This plant was built in the early 1940s, and portions of it have not been upgraded or improved in that period of time.”

The Scott Candler Water Treatment Plant on Winters Chapel Road was built in 1942.

Upgrades to the facility are expected to cost about $250 million.

Thurmond told commissioners that his administration has invested $1.25 billion into water and sewer infrastructure improvements since he took office in 2017.

He told Channel 2′s Bryan Mims that the rate increase proposal is not a reaction to the recent crisis in Atlanta when major water main breaks shut off water for days across a large swath of the city.

“This money, if in fact it’s approved, will continue this effort to improve and upgrade our system,” Thurmond said. “Unfortunately, for decades DeKalb neglected our water and sewer system. It fell into disrepair.”

If approved by commissioners, the rate increase would be the second in ten years.

In March 2022, the county raised water rates by six percent.

Thurmond said the increase would translate into about $3.30 extra on a typical water bill.

“This is not a reaction, but it is continuing to be proactive so that we don’t have to react,” he said.

DeKalb County resident Patty Hutton welcomes the increase.

“We should be paying for water,” she said. “I think we should be paying more than we are. It’s a precious resource. We can’t be alive on this planet without water. And we waste water like crazy, and it should be more precious to us.”

But Toni Johnson-White says in this time of inflation, she can ill afford a higher water bill.

“I think that’s a lot, because we’ve got enough bills that we’re going through with everything hiked,” she said.

Thurmond also points to inflation for increasing operational costs at the water treatment plant, prompting the need for more funding.

“We must make these investments to prevent, at least in the near term, a catastrophic event,” he said.

County commissioners must vote on the rate increase, but it’s unclear when that could happen.