In a move that cemented the future of the the Wareham Sewer Department, the Board of Sewer Commissioners voted 4-1 last Thursday to formally adopt a new sewer rate policy combining a fixed fee and water usage fee. While the new policy won't go into effect for at least another 8-12 months, the new rate policy is an attempt to provide a more fair and equitable way to bill town sewer users.

Currently, Wareham sewer users pay a flat annual $596 per EDU (equivalent dwelling units). A single-family home is charged one EDU, while a two-unit duplex is generally charged two EDUs. Businesses are scheduled similarly. For example, restaurants are charged one EDU per 12 seats; gas stations are charged one EDU per service island. Currently only 11 percent of towns in Massachusetts use EDUs for sewer rates.

The new hybrid model would use water use as a surrogate measurement for sewage discharged. The model would charge a flat fee for all users with an additional flow-based fee for heavier users, leading to a more accurate distribution of the costs of the town sewer program.

Tighe and Bond, a Pocasset-based engineering and environmental consulting firm, was commissioned by the town in May of 2013 to study alternatives to the EDU system. Since then, Project Manager Michael Schrader has delivered reports at multiple public hearings (including at Selectmen meetings when that board served as the town's sewer commissioners) on what the firm has learned from studying the data.

Schrader presented prospective rates to the Commissioners last Thursday, though the numbers are not finalized. The initial numbers were $550 for the minimum flat fee, which would allow up to 6,300 cubic feet of water use and $7.19 for each hundred cubic feet of water over the 6,300 cubic feet mark.

Schrader said that 66 percent of sewer users in town fall under the 6,300 cubic feet mark, including nearly all residential properties. While the numbers have not been finalized, this would mean that most residents would pay slightly less for sewer ($550 compared to the current $596 rate) while businesses could pay much higher.

Schrader said one of the biggest challenges for the Sewer Commissioners would be deciding how to implement the new rate for businesses that could see a dramatic drop or rise in its sewer bill. He also included the possibility of working with the water districts to install deduct meters that would measure a property's water usage that isn't connected to the sewers, such as lawn sprinklers.

While the board previously discussed putting the new rate into effect in February 2016, for the fiscal year 2017 billing cycle, no target date was chosen at Thursday's meeting. The lone dissenting vote to accept the new sewer policy was Commissioner Donna Bronk.

Sewer Commissioners Chairman Marilyn Jordan said future meetings with Schrader will include more data and factor in the long-term capital improvement plan into the new sewer rate system.

"We need to know where we're going forward," she said.