TAMPA, Fla. — Public meetings on a major plan to renew and upgrade Tampa's water and wastewater pipes are happening this week.

The meetings begin Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Kate Jackson Community Center at 821 South Rome Ave.

The cities underground pipes are nearing a century old and cost the city $20 million a year to maintain.  

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said P.I.P.E.S., or progressive infrastructure plan to ensure sustainability, will attack the cities aging infrastructure that if not addressed will cost the city exponentially more money to maintain in the coming years.

To pay for P.I.P.E.S, the city says it will slowly raise customer utility bills over the next two decades.

"We currently are almost half the average of the other Tampa Bay municipalities and counties in our utilities bills," Castor said. "And so it's going to be a very gradual raise over 20 years."

The city is hoping that gradual increase in utility bills is hardly noticed by customers - as opposed to a big jump in bills right away.

The project is a long term one, with the city planning to target the oldest pipes in the system first.