This fee was added to the water bills to help fund projects that
could potentially reduce flooding in the City of Hopkinsville. It
also helps fund the Stormwater Phase II project which is an unfunded
federal mandate that identifies stormwater sources that reduce water
quality.
An ERU is an Equivalent Residential Unit. This is the average
impervious surface (anything that does not allow water to "soak
through" to the ground, such as driveways, roofs, and sidewalks)
area associated with a single family residential property in the
City of Hopkinsville as calculated using statistical methods.
This money goes into a fund to help operate, maintain, and
improve the City of Hopkinsville's stormwater system.
For those projects we have currently
completed, please follow this link to our
completed projects.
City Council passed Ordinance 32-2005 establishing the Surface
and Stormwater Utility and Ordinance 36-2005 to establish the fee
schedule.
The Surface and Stormwater Utility decided that the best way to
fund projects to reduce flooding would be to add a small fee to the
bills of water customers within the city limits of Hopkinsville.
This will not solve flooding; there will always be rainfall
events that exceed the design capacity of the system. It will help
reduce the frequency of flooding within the City of Hopkinsville.
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