Town still faces major costs for aging treatment plant
By Jane Musgrave
While Manalapan residents face an 18% water rate increase in October, that could turn out to be a bargain compared to what may lie down the road.
Like other utility systems throughout the country, Manalapan expects to be forced to upgrade its water treatment plant to meet federal regulations that require utilities to remove so-called “forever chemicals” from drinking water supplies by 2031.
Added to the town’s woes is that the plant is old and needs an estimated $10 million to $12.5 million in improvements, not including those that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could require.
Further, six years ago, it lost 65% of its revenue when the town of Hypoluxo ended its 60-year contract with the town, electing to get water for its 2,200 residents from Boynton Beach Utilities instead.
“It’s almost like a perfect storm of factors (i.e. losing Hypoluxo, insane inflationary period, and EPA regulatory requirements) are all hitting at the same time,” Manalapan Town Manager Eric Marmer wrote in an email.
Hoping to get the best deal for its ratepayers, the town is shopping around to see if it would make more sense to follow Hypoluxo’s lead and find another utility to provide water service for the town’s 425 residents and business owners.
Preliminary results aren’t good.
Palm Beach County Water Utilities said it would cost Manalapan at least $36 million to connect to its system, the town’s utility consultant told commissioners at their August meeting.
That is more than double what it is expected to cost to upgrade the existing 92-year-old plant that last underwent major improvements in 2006.
John Cairnes, senior project manager for engineering consultant Mock Roos & Associates, said other nearby utilities weren’t surveyed.
Commissioners asked him to contact Lantana and Boynton Beach utilities to determine how much they would charge to provide water service to the town.
Efforts are also underway to find ways to increase revenues if the town opts to upgrade its plant, Marmer said
Town officials are exploring whether South Palm Beach may want to switch its water service to Manalapan and whether Hypoluxo could be lured back, he said.
Mayor John Deese said all possibilities should be considered. “But we want to protect our water system so we don’t have to rely on someone else,” he said.
Manalapan isn’t alone in dealing with the looming expense of removing the cancer-causing forever chemicals from its water supply.
Rules, requiring water plants to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, were enacted by the EPA in 2024. The chemicals are in thousands of manmade products, such as non-stick cookware, microwave popcorn bags and stain-resistent carpets, and major contamination has been linked to the use of firefighting foam.
Delray Beach is spending an estimated $280 million to build a new, larger water treatment plant. An estimated $140 million of that is linked to the cost of removing forever chemicals.
Riviera Beach is spending an estimated $400 million on a new water treatment plant to address a host of issues, including the federal regulations.
“The whole country is dealing with it,” Marmer said.
The Town Commission signed off on the 18% rate hike to assure the plant remains in good financial health.
A 2025 rate study recommended the 18% increase — following an average 80% rise the commission enacted last year — be phased in over three years, but commissioners decided to accelerate that schedule.
Water rates for the town are based on pipe size and usage so the increases will vary. The larger the pipe size, the greater demand on the system. Nearly all Manalapan residences are served by either a 1-inch or 2-inch pipe.
According to the rates, shown on the town’s website, those with a 1-inch pipe are paying a base price of $171.83 a month. An 18% rise would increase those bills to $202.75 when the new rates take effect. Under the original plan to spread the remaining increase over three years, those customers would have been paying $182.14.
Those with a 2-inch pipe, who are paying a base price of $532.75, would see their bills jump to $628.64 instead of the $564.76 they would have been paying with the recommended three-year increase.
Customers also are billed for how much water they use. That, too, would increase 18%, according to the rate plan.
Before last year, there hadn’t been a rate increase for 11 years.
During that time, the cost of labor, chemicals, equipment and other expenses skyrocketed, Marmer said.
“When the town finally completed a rate study, it became clear that rates had fallen significantly behind the actual cost of operating the system,” he said. “The increases adopted by the commission were intended to correct that imbalance and put the utility back on a financially sustainable footing.”
The rate study didn’t take into consideration the cost of possible upgrades needed to deal with forever chemicals.
“So, unfortunately (this) will not be the end of rate increases,” Marmer said.
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