Fort Wayne, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) -- If you have Fort Wayne City Utilities, your sewer rates will be going up.

Recent information sessions held around town explained the federally-mandated $240 million combined sewer overflow project.

It will drastically reduce the amount of raw sewage currently dumped into Fort Wayne's rivers.

To pay for it, sewer rates will increase an average of seven to eight percent a year over the next 20 years.

Mary Jane Slator\FW City Utilities: " It could be a 15% rate increase, and then a couple of years with no increase. Right now the mayor and the director of utilities are working on a rate program to determine how to implement those rates. But they'll be going up."

That amounts to about $5,000 -- per person in Fort Wayne -- over the next 20 years.

The massive sewer improvement project is slated to be complete in 2026.