An increase in the annual fee water providers pay the state Department of Environmental Protection to ensure safe drinking water could cost local municipalities thousands of dollars.

The increase comes as part of the Safe Drinking Water Program annual fee increase, which took effect at the beginning of 2019. Officials hope to generate $7.5 million in funding for the state's 8,500 public water systems.

According to DEP information, the changes were initially discussed in 2016 and proposed in 2017. The additional fees will be used to help meet state and federal water quality standards by hiring more staff to conduct inspections and analysis of drinking water supplies more frequently.

According to a letter sent to Seven Fields borough Manager Tom Smith from the DEP explaining the increase, the annual fee is based on the number of customers a public water system has.

That population number is taken from a re-evaluation each water provider conducted in 2016.

That number is also used to determine monitoring requirements and includes residential customers, schools, factories, day cares, hospitals, offices, commuters, restaurants, campgrounds, churches, hotels and any other public or private place where people gather. This adds to the overall calculated number.

According to information from the DEP, the fee structure is also based on the type of water system and ranges from $250 to $40,000 for community water systems; $100 to $1,000 for nontransient non-community systems; and $100 to $1,000 for transient non-community systems.

In areas such as southwestern Butler County, where the number of residents and commuters continues to climb, the fee increase could be large.

On Monday, Seven Fields council approved the payment of the borough's increase, which went from about $400 annually to $4,000. Smith told council members the borough conducts weekly testing of its water supply, and the fee aims to make sure water supplies throughout the state get the same attention.

“The DEP wants to pass on the costs to make sure all drinking systems are operating at a safe level,” he said.

In approving the payment, Smith and members of council clarified the cost would not be passed on to the consumer. However, Smith said Thursday that paying such an increase could be a challenge for some municipalities and water providers, particularly because it was announced during the “throes of the budget process.”

Kristy Donaldson, manager at the Municipal Water Authority of Buffalo Township, said the authority's new fee under the program is $10,000. She said that cost is being absorbed through the general water fund budget, but a slight increase in water rates was needed to offset it.

That increase did not affect the minimum rate for 2,000 gallons, but instead charges an additional 35 cents per 1,000 gallons.

At the Evans City Water & Sewer Authority, officials said the fee amount increased from $200 to $2,000. Laura Kamienski, office manager, said while that amount was large, any increase for customers would be the result of an increase in overall expenditures and not one specific increase.

In Cranberry Township, manager Jerry Andree said that while details remain to be seen, the township could see its annual contribution to the DEP increase from $1,200 annually to as much as $20,000 in 2020.