The district, which encompasses the cities of Campbell and Monte Sereno, the town of Los Gatos, two-thirds of the city of Saratoga and unincorporated areas, is proposing the rate increase and will be hearing public comment on the idea Sept. 25 at 6:30 p.m. at Campbell's city chambers, 70 N. First St.

Currently, single-family residences pay $16.50 a month for the district's services. The district is proposing that the rate increase gradually beginning next year so that single-family homes will be paying $23.35 a month by 2007­08. Rates for other buildings and their uses would also increase.

The reason for the proposed increases, said district General Manager Robert Reid, is that the district is facing increased costs for sewage treatment related to recycling and environment conservation as well as more infrastructure repairs and improvements.

"We know we're going to be running into spending more than we're taking in," Reid said. "Sixty percent of our budget is to pay for our share of waste water treatment."

In fact, those costs have already increased more than $2 million in the past nine years, he said, years in which ratepayers have not seen an increase in their monthly payments since 1994.

The increased costs are "partly due to the amount of programs required," Reid said. "All of those things cost money."

In 1990, the state agency overseeing the district, the San Francisco Regional Water Control Board, asked Bay Area sanitation districts to limit the amount of fresh water flowing into the San Francisco Bay, much of which was coming from the South Bay, Reid said. The board was concerned that so much fresh water was causing a reduction in the amount of the bay's salt water marshes which serve as habitats to several endangered species.

By 1994, the South Bay sanitation districts came up with a South Bay Action Plan for limiting that flow, much of which concentrated on recycling water for use in gardening and other industrial uses, Reid said. Now, the area delivers 12 million gallons of recycled water to clients, who pay for the cost of the treatment, he said, and "it's going to increase."

But while the treatment costs are covered by the water's purchasers, the district and others who use the San Jose­Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, located in San Jose, are still paying off the capital bonds for installing the equipment to treat the water. The West Valley district is the third-largest user of the plant, behind the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara, respectively, Reid said.

In addition to the more than $2 million annually for water treatment, the district is facing another cost of $2 million annually to adhere to its plan of replacing 1 percent of its system every year, Reid said. Also, the district has just basic increased costs of doing its regular work, he said.

He said the district knew it would need to increase rates to pay for the bonds and infrastructure work, but wanted to take the time to better determine exactly how much those increases should be and establish a long-range plan for implementing them. By law, the district must notify all its users of possible rate increases and allow them an opportunity to protest, and because of the costs implicit in that requirement, wanted to make a single proposal to last for a period of time.

"We didn't want to do it for a one-time thing," Reid said.

He said that the district's current rates are significantly below the statewide average of $22 a month for single-family users, and that the district expects its rates to remain below the state average even after the increases. He added that rates might not increase as high as projected if the district's costs don't go as high as expected.

The district serves 115,000 customers and maintains 44,000 sewer connections. It is governed by a board made up of the mayors or their representatives from each of the member cities and town, as well as Jim Beall, the Santa Clara County supervisor who represents most of the area.

For more information about the rate increase, call the district, 408.378.2407, or the hotline, 408.871.1681. Protests to the increase must be received by the district by the end of the Sept. 25 public hearing. Only written protests with the original signatures of the property owner, including the assessor's parcel number of the affected property, will be accepted. They should be mailed to Secretary of the Board, West Valley Sanitation District, 100 E. Sunnyoaks Ave., Campbell, 95008.