Sharon residents may see their sewer bills go up to cover the expense of reducing excess flow of water into the sewage-treatment plant.

Councilman Raymond Fabian said the city is going to have to consider raising sewer fees to pay for the repairs.

Michael Gasparich, city finance director, said the city will have to pay about $750,000 a year in additional bond payments to fix the system.

Council President Fred Hoffman said fees may have to double. Currently residents pay between $27 and $30 every two months for service, according to Gasparich.

The city must eliminate 2.2 million gallons a day of excess water from the plant, Daniel J. Goncz, municipal services group manager for Gannett Fleming in Pittsburgh, told council Wednesday.

The water comes from cracked pipes, drains from demolished houses that have been improperly capped and runoff from rain and snow during wet weather.

The city has already spent $2.1 million in grant money since 1999 eliminating 475,000 gallons of excess water to the plant, Goncz said.

The cost to find the other 1,750,000 gallons of water infiltration and repair the lines will cost the city between $8.2 million and $10.2 million, Goncz said. The plan will be implemented over five years, he said.

The plant is designed to handle 4.5 million gallons a day but it is receiving up to 7.8 million gallons, Goncz said.

Hoffman said his concern is that the city will spend the money, not reduce the inflow enough and then have to build a new sewage-treatment plant, which Goncz said will cost about $19 million.

"I do have a problem working in the blind like we always do," Hoffman said.

Goncz said the city will have to run a camera through the lines and see how much water is leaking into the system. If the city can't remove enough excess water to meet state Department of Environmental Protection requirements, council could decide not to make the repairs and build a new plant.

Included in the cost is a pan-and-tilt camera for the sewer lines and another full-time employee to survey the sewers. Councilman George Gulla asked how plant operators determine how much water flows into the plant from areas served by the system like South Pymatuning Township and Hermitage.

Goncz said a meter tracks the inflow. He said if eliminating Sharon's excess inflow isn't enough to bring the plant up to regulations those municipalities will have to address the problem.

Goncz said a draft plan to eliminate the excess watermust be submitted to DEP by the end of the week, and the plan must be finalized by the end of the year.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at kgarrett@sharon-herald.com