Natchez Water Works officials hope that expanding outside the city limits will help increase business.

With the waterworks losing roughly $1 million every year, expanding to where new developments are likely to grow is a good business move, Water Works Superintendent David Gardner said Friday.

The board of aldermen in Wednesday’s meeting approved a request for the waterworks to file with the state to ask for exclusive rights to serve in certain areas up to a mile outside the city limits.

“Our population has decreased, our number of industries has decreased and our number of meters has decreased,” Gardner said. “In order to get those back, we’ve got to go beyond the city limits. We’re kind of staking our claim.”

The waterworks does not receive city taxes, he said, so providing facilities to new customers is one way to get new revenue.

And expanding won’t cost as much as some might think.

“As far as infrastructure goes, a lot of it is put in by developers,” Gardner said. “We’ll probably just run one line down the highway, and they’ll come to us. We are not going to do it unless we know waterworks can make money off it.”

Expanding to places like U.S. 61 South to reach new potential customers will help keep water rates reasonable, he said.

The waterworks already serves some county areas, including the port facility, Gardner said. These steps, including applying to the state, makes it exclusively their business.

And the waterworks is a separate business from the city. It is overseen by the city, but it’s not as directly linked as other departments.

Mayor Phillip West said the idea that expanding waterworks was linked to annexation was untrue.

“This has nothing to do with annexation,” West said. “This is completely different. Other economic development prospects need either water or sewage to facilitate what may or may to develop.”

Since Adams County Water Association, a nonprofit business, doesn’t provide sewer service, it’s a good opportunity, West said.