Ed Steger’s chest hair is gray, once again.

A year ago, Steger and thousands of other northwest Fort Wayne residents were switched from Aqua Indiana to City Utilities water service. His shower water now has no rust to color his hair. The water coming through his pipes has been so clean he was able to disconnect his water softener.

“It’s just what most people would come to expect from a city utility,” he said. “We’re pretty happy with the service and the quality.”

Fort Wayne reports it has almost completed the transition from Aqua Indiana, and residents in the area have expressed their gratitude for better and cheaper water service. Yet thousands of residents in southwest Fort Wayne still use the private utility, and despite concerns from those customers about the service and the mayor’s pledge to get them city water, there are no formal plans for a takeover.

The city started an eminent domain action in 2002 to acquire the northern Aqua system, which had about 9,000 water customers and 1,600 sewer customers. In 2007, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a 3-2 vote that the city can take the utility through eminent domain. The $16.9 million purchase check was delivered last February and the city began converting residents to its water service.

Smooth transition

Bob Hinga, program manager with the city’s water maintenance and service department, said the switching of customers to City Utilities went as well as could be expected. He said there were some problems locating Aqua’s pipes, but overall it went smoothly.

Even Bill Etzler, vice president and regional manager of Aqua Indiana, said the switch has been fairly simple and the two utilities have built an amicable relationship. He said every employee who had to be cut from Aqua because of the sale was able to find work elsewhere, including with City Utilities.

Some work still needs to be done, Hinga said, including a few pipe connections. While all the former northern Aqua customers are on city water, the final connections will help with water pressure and redundancy if a pipe bursts.

Etzler said his company still reads meters in the northern area and likely will do so for the next year if a contract is extended.

The City Council members in the area said residents seem to be pleased with the switch.

“I heard from many people they were happy with the quality of the water,” said Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd.

Councilman Tom Didier, R-3rd, said he’s no longer hearing water complaints from his constituents, something he says was a fairly regular occurrence.

Linda Henrie, president of the Eagle Lake neighborhood, said she doesn’t hear concerns from anyone about water. Personally, she said the change hasn’t been significant, but it has allowed her to disconnect her water softener and cut down on bottled-water purchases.

“I drink more tap water than I used to,” she said. “It tastes better.”

Hinga said the biggest problem was simply flushing the old Aqua lines clean, done regularly through fire hydrants and other means.

Matthew Wirtz, City Utilities deputy director for engineering, said most of the challenges were expected.

“We’re really happy with where we’re at now,” he said.

While he said the city has gotten some complaints in the new service area, people have mostly been grateful for the switch.

Looking southwest

As most residents and city officials praise the north acquisition as a success, thousands of southwest Aqua customers question whether they will also be bought. Steve Bruns, a board member for the southwest Eagle Creek Neighborhood Association, said he has taken a lot of questions from residents about increases in their bills.

“Everybody’s saying, ‘I hope the city takes it over,’ ” he said. “Bills have gone up substantially.”

Wirtz said Mayor Tom Henry campaigned on looking at a southwest acquisition.

“Decisions are still under way on what our approach would be,” Wirtz said.

Last year, the private utility raised its rates 75 percent, with a 50 percent jump in October and the rest to come this June. Bruns said his bill has jumped from about $50 to almost $90. Although people used to have concerns about the quality of the water, Bruns said, those concerns have eased, and most of the complaints are about rates.

Aqua filed a quarterly complaint report with the Indiana Utility Regulator Commission on Jan. 20 that outlined about 50 complaint calls about southwest water service since late September. Many of the calls were bunched around specific dates.

For example, 20 people called to complain about cloudy water spanning two days. Aqua responded by opening a fire hydrant to flush the bad water and clean the pipe. Many other complaints dealt with sulfur-smelling water or colored water that required customers to flush their hot water heaters. Since Aqua’s new rates took effect last year, the city reported getting about 70 complaint calls, despite having nothing to do with the service.

Etzler said he expected to get some complaints about price, noting private utilities have to ask for rate increases after improvements are made. Public utilities can ask for increases to pay for future improvements, causing some confusion among customers. He said water-quality issues have been easier to correct for the southern utility than they were in the north.

City Councilman Mitch Harper, R-4th, represents the area served by Aqua and is a customer of the private utility. Although he spoke out against the company’s rate increase, he said a city takeover isn’t necessarily the answer. For unlike the northern private utility, which shipped its sewage to Fort Wayne, the southwest utility has its own sewage treatment.

The city is implementing a $240 million sewer upgrade to keep raw sewage from pouring into area rivers during heavy rains. The work could triple city sewer rates over 18 years. Harper said the private sewer system doesn’t contribute to this problem, so he would be concerned about them joining the city and being forced to help finance the work.

This has become a bigger concern for him since a city task force reported expanding its customer base would help reduce the individual cost.

“I hear people complaining about water quality and water rates,” Harper said. “I don’t hear people complaining about sewage treatment.”

Etzler said their sewage work has already been completed.

Harper also pointed out that Fort Wayne’s utility rates aren’t reflective of all things in the Aqua bills. Specifically, he said fire hydrant fees are paid directly by Aqua customers, but the fees are subsidized by city customers through property taxes. This is a problem for his constituents who basically pay for the service twice.

Completing a price

While residents in northwest Fort Wayne are enjoying their new water, they don’t know how much they’ll have to pay for it. Though the city paid Aqua $16.9 million for the assets, the final price will likely be decided in court.

The court case between the city and Aqua has been moved to Wells County, but neither side would reveal much about the case’s progress.

Etzler said a consultant hired by Aqua has not completed its assessment of the value of the northern utility. He said he was unsure when the work would be done, but Aqua officials have previously said the $16.9 million price was too low.

Because the city can’t charge current customers to buy new customers, any increase in the price would have to be paid through a surcharge from the former northern Aqua customers.

With such an issue pending, members of the City Council said caution should be taken before looking south. Councilwoman Goldner said it would be appropriate to begin some preliminary investigating of the issue, as it would likely take years to resolve. Councilman Harper, however, said the information is critical.

“We need to know what the true cost of the acquisition is,” he said.

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