Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the meeting date.

WHITTIER — The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District will meet at Santa Clarita City Hall Thursday, May 27, starting at 6:30 p.m., to discuss whether the district should eventually raise the sewer fee by $8 per month.

If the district approves the fee increase, residents would pay nearly $2 more a month — a rise from the current rate of $16.58 to $18.50 — beginning July 1, with the fee eventually going up to $24.67 in July 2013.

The increased fees would be used to maintain current sewage treatment plants and to design new facilities that would cut levels of chloride — a kind of salt — in the Santa Clara River. That salt ruins crops for farmers downstream.

Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste said the city and county don’t have control over sewage rate increases — the river cleanup is mandated by state and federal law.

“How are we going to manage regional water without bankrupting our citizens?” Weste asked board members at the meeting.

According to the plan, the increases won’t stop in 2013. Sanitation officials will propose more hikes in 2013 or 2014 based on how much they think it would cost to build a new treatment plant.

Santa Clarita Valley residents pay some of the lowest sewer rates in Southern California — even if the increases were to take effect, said John Gulledge, head of the Sanitation District’s financial management department.

They currently pay $16.58 per month for sewage treatment, and would pay $24.67 in 2013.

Ventura residents already pay $25 a month for sewage cleanup. Residents in Palmdale pay $27 and Fillmore residents pay $80 a month, according to sanitation district figures.

“We wanted to show a comparison with other communities in the area discharging into the Santa Clara River,” Gulledge said.

In November 2008, Santa Clarita voters passed Measure S, which banned water softeners that dump salty waste into the river.

Sanitation officials estimate the ban has saved $70 million in river cleanup cost.