Now on the third and final phase of the nearly $1.4 billion Combined Sewer Overflow project, the Narragansett Bay Commission has continued to increase its rates to pay for the massive underground tunnel system that already has seen success in cleaning the water in the upper bay.
The effects of the first two parts of the project were immediate and real. Upper Narragansett Bay has been open more often for fishing, boating and even swimming since Phase I was completed in 2008 than for many years previously, earning the NBC a national award for improved water quality in 2014.
Additional improvement in water quality has been achieved since Phase II came online in late 2014, with even more expected by the 2038 completion date of Phase III, subject to current financing plans.
The financial impact on ratepayers has been real: Since 2001 the typical household costs have gone from $135 per year to an expected peak of about $600-plus per year by 2025.
Is that change easy to manage? For many, no. But there is no free lunch, least of all when it comes to clean water.
