Rockaway Township residents and business owners will see higher water and sewer bills following a rate adjustment from the Rockaway Township Municipal Utility Authority. The change marks the township water utility’s first rate increase since 2014.
In a letter to the community, the Municipal Utility Authority said it had worked for more than a decade to hold rates steady and absorb rising costs, but that the updates are now necessary to keep utility service reliable. Officials pointed to two main drivers behind the increase.
The first is the annual cost of wastewater treatment. A significant portion of every bill goes to the Rockaway Valley Regional Sewerage Authority, known as RVRSA, which has raised its regional treatment costs. Because those fees climb each year, the township adjusts its sewer rates annually to cover the community’s share.
The second driver is investment in water infrastructure. The authority said the increase will help fund replacing aging underground pipes to prevent water main breaks and outages, upgrading filtration technology to meet current health and safety standards, and covering the rising cost of daily operations, supplies, and the electricity needed to pump water to homes. Delaying that work, the authority warned, could risk water quality problems or lead to expensive emergency repairs that would cost ratepayers more.
For residents in this Morris County community looking to lower their bills, the authority recommends checking for hidden household leaks, such as a running toilet, and following its water conservation tips.
