Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

The Great Lakes Water Authority Board of Directors voted Wednesday to increase wholesale water rates by 5.8% and sewer rates by 4.26%, affecting customers in Wixom, parts of Commerce Township, Walled Lake and Novi.

This was lower than the 6.83% water hike and 5.98% sewer increase the utility proposed in January for fiscal year 2027, which begins July 1.

Nicolette Bateson, chief financial officer for GLWA, said the smaller increases will save communities using the GLWA system around $13 million versus the proposed amounts.

The goal is to balance affordability concerns with the need to invest in aging infrastructure, Bateson said.

According to Planet Detroit, the latest increases follow GLWA’s approval in 2025 of a 5.9% water rate increase and a 4.5% sewer rate hike.

Around 70 people spoke during the public hearing on Wednesday, all of them in opposition to the proposed increases. Many said a rate hike will force residents to choose between paying their water bill or spending money on other essentials like food, rent, and medicine.

“Systems must be maintained, but affordability must be a part of the equation,” said Flint City Council President Candice Mushatt.

A rate structure that ignores economic distress is unsustainable, creates housing insecurity, and impacts sanitation and public health, Mushatt said.

GLWA board members emphasized the need to increase rates to deal with aging infrastructure and safeguard the system for the future.

Board Secretary Freman Hendrix said the system has some catching up to do after a 10-year cap, which limited rate increases to 4%, was lifted last year. Increased spending is needed to address problems like frequent water main breaks, he said.

A break in a 54-inch water main managed by GLWA in Southwest Detroit impacted hundreds of houses, displaced families, and caused significant damage in February 2025.

The budget approved Wednesday includes $7.5 million to begin to expand GLWA’s strategic water main replacement program.

Norel Hemphill, legal and public policy manager for the nonprofit We the People of Detroit, said during the public hearing that a solution is needed for water affordability. Hemphill called on the board to support the Affordable Water Now legislation introduced in the Michigan House in October.

GLWA’s Bateson said the utility is engaged in the conversation around water affordability legislation.

“It is clearly needed,” she said.

GLWA's full statement on the rate hikes is attached below.