Sewer rates won’t increase for the fourth year in a row after they rose significantly following a mandate in 2009 by the Environmental Protection Agency to fix the city’s sewer system.

The city’s system on the western part of town carried both sewer and stormwater, which overwhelmed the water protection treatment facility and caused sewage to flow into the Missouri River.

To come into compliance with the mandate, the initial estimates for the full project were more than $347 million. As a way to fund it and meet regulations, the city raised sewer rates.