Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
Water Infrastructure Funding Tops EENR’s Agenda
by Joanna Liberman Turner
Posted: June 28, 2004
Atlanta Councilmember Clair Muller, chair of NLC’s Energy, Environment and
Natural Resources (EENR) Steering Committee, recently convened the committee’s
spring meeting, hosted by Debbie Quinn, council member, Fairhope, Ala.
The top issue for policy development this year is whether NLC should support a
trust fund for water infrastructure.
To inform their discussions on this issue, the committee heard presentations
from Ken Kirk, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies, which supports a trust fund, and Tom Curtis, the director of the
Washington Office of American Water Works Association, which does not.
Committee debate on the topic explored whether increased, long-term funding for
water infrastructure that could come from a trust fund could be balanced with
the drawbacks.
These include the likelihood of increased mandates, problems associated with
using trust funds to mask the federal deficit and the equity issues that have
arisen with other trust funds. Debate also included possible funding mechanisms
for a water infrastructure trust fund, with consensus from the committee that it
would not support any taxes on water rates.
Members of the committee also heard a presentation from James Hanlon, director
of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, on the proposed
new rule on blending in wet weather conditions.
This proposed rule specifies conditions under which water utilities would be
allowed to blend treated wastewater with untreated wastewater.
The committee will hear a presentation from the environmental community on this
issue at its fall meeting in Burlington, Vt., before determining whether to
write policy on this issue.
The meeting also included a presentation on wetlands erosion in Louisiana from
member cities Gretna and Lake Charles. A resolution submitted by these cities
will be considered at the fall meeting.