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�i <br />Elk River --�- <br />Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br />TO: <br />FROM: <br />ERMU Commission <br />Mark Hanson — General Manager <br />MEETING DATE: <br />AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />February 11, 2024 <br />5.4 <br />SUBJECT: <br />Water Service Line Ownership <br />ACTION REQUESTED: <br />Discuss possible policy changes to ERMU's water service line ownership <br />BACKGROUND: <br />At the December 2024 meeting, commission members directed staff to survey water service <br />line ownership policies of various cities. Staff selected 50 cities and identified their respective <br />ownership policies. Cities were selected based on a desire to get a diverse sample set while still <br />including cities with similar attributes such as Minnesota Municipal Power Association <br />membership, Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association membership, size, and regional <br />proximity. <br />For ERMU's customers, property owners own and are responsible for their entire water service <br />line, from the main to their home or business. Per city ordinance, the same is true for sanitary <br />sewer service lines. The surveyed cities, however, described four different types of ownership <br />for water service lines: <br />• The property owner owns the entire service line (current ERMU policy) <br />• The city owns the service line from the main through (including) the curb stop valve <br />• The city offers a protection program (repair fund) to assist owners with repair costs <br />• The city differentiates between residential and commercial properties <br />Water service line breaks are relatively rare but can be expensive. Such repairs typically cost <br />anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000+ depending on the amount of restoration work needed. <br />Water service line repairs often involve older homes/businesses with owners who may have <br />limited resources, making it difficult for them to absorb these unexpected costs. <br />DISCUSSION: <br />Frequencies and Costs of Service Line Breaks: <br />Based on historical averages over the last eight years, ERMU experiences roughly two water <br />service line breaks (leaks) per year. Most of the breaks occur at the curb stop valve. With <br />roughly 5,650 total water customers, repairing two service line breaks per year at an assumed <br />$8000 repair cost would average out to an increase of $0.25/month per account. <br />Page 1 of 4 <br />102 <br />