It will see the residential price per litre stay at $.0033 but the minimum monthly bill will rise from $25 to $39.50 in two months. The minimum residential volume will also rise with the rates, from 7,600 litres per month to 12,000.

Council approved the increase on Wednesday and the IUPC did so on Thursday.

The increase is less than the last IUPC proposal in October, 1997, which called for a $50 minimum and a rise in the residential rate to $.0056 per litre.

The commercial rate, which kicks in for anyone using more than 37,500 litres per month, will rise from $.0044 to $.0055 per litre, while government departments will pay the full cost of the water supply, estimated at $.0066 as compared to the $.0052 they pay now.

Mayor George Roach said residents saw a dramatic drop when water meters were installed in 1995, at which time the minimum monthly charge fell from $55 to $25, a rate he called artificially low.

The new, higher rates, he said, reflect the cost of operating the water system, not just the cost of getting water to houses but of piping out the sewage.

"Naturally, no one wants an increase, but no one wants to go back to the days of chopping a hole in the ice to get water and leaving the honey buckets at the end of the drive either," he said.