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GREENSBORO – In a matter of days, people who live and work in Greensboro will have to pay a little bit more for water. A water rate increase was just one of the fees raised in the city's budget.

When leaders at Hamilton Lakes Swim and Tennis Club heard the city of Greensboro was raising its water rates, they weren't worried.

"The writing has been on the wall for a couple of years in Greensboro. As they have slowly pushed out more and more infrastructure, they've had to provide more and more services, and it was my estimation that it would increase eight or nine percent," said Rick Cockroft.

Cockroft serves on the board for the nearly 50-year-old club. He says this time last year, the club needed to save money and become more environmentally friendly. So the decided to cut back on the club's $15,000 water bill.

"This time last year, everything was on city water. Swimming pools, tennis courts, everything was on city water," said Cockroft.

The club was wasting nearly 3 million gallons of water a year, but thanks to a new well and a new water recycling system, it will now use about 700,000 gallons of the city's water.

"You take the water that is coming off the pool," said club member Larry Barnes. "Before it was just going down the drain and serving no purpose. Before it was going back into the city system to have to be retreated and have to be put back into the drinking system. We're taking that water and irrigating the tennis courts with it."

The recycling measure will cut the club's $15,000 water bill down to about $3,000, and that's with the city's six percent rate hike.

"We're doing the city a favor, but they are also not charging us the storm water tax from the backside," said Barnes. "So we're saving ourselves money by recycling the water, we're saving the storm water tax and we're also saving the city the effort of having to put the water back into the system."

The new water rates will go into affect July 1.