Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
Sewage Threatens Water Quality
Monday, November 22, 2004
By Sarah Kellogg
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- When it rains, it still pours -- sewage, that is.
State and local agencies have spent billions of dollars to repair Michigan
sewer systems over the last 15 years, but millions of gallons of raw sewage
still flow into lakes and streams after heavy rainstorms and snow melts.
Local officials say they're working to rehabilitate sewage systems that are
crumbling due to age and overuse, but they concede they're not able to complete
the work because they don't have the money to do it.
"Sewer repairs are one of those things that rarely pop up on the radar
screens of citizens in general, so sometimes they're hard to fund," said Don
Stypula, executive director of the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council, an
alliance of local communities in the Grand Rapids area.
Environmentalists say the financial challenges will get worse in 2005 with
Congress and the Bush administration trimming nearly $260 million from a federal
loan fund that finances sewage system repairs and construction.
"We have allowed our sewer systems to decay so incredibly that we're threatening
our water quality," said Cyndi Roper, executive director of the Michigan chapter
of Clean Water Action, a national environmental group.
The Bush administration proposed trimming the Clean Water State Revolving Fund,
which finances water infrastructure projects, from $1.3 billion in 2004 to $850
million in 2005. Congress pared back the fund, leaving the program at about $1
billion for fiscal 2005.
It's not likely the cuts will affect Jackson County's sewer systems directly.
Capital improvements in Jackson are on hold until negotiations with Blackman
Township are resolved.
Upgrades are planned to Leoni Township's system within the next year, but
engineers working on the project weren't certain if they'd try to use a federal
loan. Other areas around the county, meanwhile, have hooked up or are tying into
the Leoni plant.
Environmentalists predicted Michigan could lose between $10 million and $15
million in state revolving loan funds. The state received $57.6 million in 2004,
according to Clean Water Action estimates.
To combat the overflows, local governments spent $47 billion nationally and more
than $2 billion in Michigan to repair and rework their combined and sanitary
sewer systems between 1989 and 2004.
"Frankly, sewers have always been a local responsibility, paid for out of local
funds or by sewer fees," said U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Grand Rapids. "The
federal government only stepped in to help in exceptional circumstances."
To keep the work moving forward, especially in tight budget times when cities
are often forced to choose between the fire department and sewer overhauls, the
public needs to understand the challenge ahead.
"The sewer system is a lot like any other infrastructure system, except on the
way home when you hit a pothole and it wrecks your car, you know about it," said
Lee Garrigan, a spokeswoman for the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies.