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The Bond Buyer
Copyright (c) 2004 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved
Friday, July 9, 2004
Vol. 349, No. 31922
State, Local Officials Press Congress for
More Sewer Funds
By Humberto Sanchez
WASHINGTON -- A group representing sewer authorities around the nation called
on Congress yesterday to approve pending legislation that would over two years
provide $1.5 billion in grants to states and local governments to help upgrade
aging sewer systems and prevent combined storm sewer and sanitary sewer
overflows. "We face financial challenges in the water infrastructure sector
today that far exceed historical investment patterns and exceed the financial
capacity of our local governments and ratepayers," Paul Pinault, executive
director of the Narragansett Bay Commission, told a House water panel on behalf
of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies.
The combined sewer overflow problem stems from the design of the nation's older
sewer systems -- some of which are over 100 years old. Those systems carry
sanitary wastewater -- domestic, commercial, and industrial waste liquids -- and
storm runoff through a single-pipe system to a treatment facility. In periods of
heavy rainfall or snowmelt, the amount of wastewater in a combined sewer system
can exceed the capacity of the system or treatment plant.
Rather than have sewage back up into houses, buildings, and streets, built-in
mechanisms allow the excess sewage to flow out of the systems at certain points
upstream of sewage treatment plants and into the nearest body of water. However,
the overflow comes at considerable cost to local water quality.
Approximately 800 communities, both large and small, have combined sewers, which
could cost as much as $50.6 billion to bring up to Environmental Protection
Agency standards, according to the EPA.
Sanitary sewer overflows are discharges of raw or inadequately treated sewage
from municipal separate sanitary sewer systems, which are designed to carry
domestic sanitary sewage but not storm water. These overflows -- which typically
result from storm water infiltration or a failure in the sewer, such as a
blocked or broken pipe -- often constitute a serious environmental and public
health threat.
The EPA estimates that it would cost communities about $88.5 billion to improve
sewers and bring them in compliance with EPA sanitary sewer overflow standards.
Through 2003, states have made about $3.4 billion in loans for CSO projects from
the wastewater and drinking water state revolving funds, which provide
low-interest loans to local governments and operators of sewer and water
facilities, according to water panel aides. States have also made roughly $1.45
billion in loans for SSO projects over the same period.
However, the needs "across the nation have far outgrown the funding levels
provided by the SRF," Pinault told members of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee's water resources and environment subcommittee.
A version of the sewer overflow bill, which was introduced last year by Rep.
Dave Camp, R-Mich., is included in pending legislation that would have
authorized spending $20 billion for wastewater SRFs over five years -- a
significant increase over the $1.34 billion provided in fiscal 2004. But that
bill has been stalled due to a proposal to include a controversial
prevailing-wage requirement in the measure.
"While negotiations continue over the complex issues surrounding SRF
reauthorization, at this point I think it is appropriate that we move sewer
overflow legislation separate," Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., chairman of
the subcommittee said at the hearing yesterday. "Communities all over the United
States need help solving their sewer overflow problem." Sen. Olympia Snowe,
R-Maine, introduced an identical bill last year in the Senate, but no action has
been taken on the measure.