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Help with EPA mandates may be on the way; Defiance mayor pleased with actions of Ohio senators
August 5, 2008
By TODD HELBERG
For months a group of regional communities has petitioned federal lawmakers for financial help to meet EPA clean water mandates.
Now, help might be on the way.
This month, Ohio's two senators -- Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican George Voinovich -- have introduced the Clean Water Affordability Act (S.3443) to help communities comply with the mandates.
"This is something we have been working on for a long time with our legislators, and we're all glad they have listened," said Defiance Mayor Bob Armstrong. "We think we are on the right track with a bill like this. We now have some high hopes for relief from unfunded mandates. I think it's a breakthrough."
The issue for many communities is finding the financial means to comply with requirements for removing combined sewer overflows. These were installed decades ago, and occasionally allow raw sewage to enter rivers and streams during heavy rain events.
A group of communities known as the Maumee River Basin Partnership of Local Governments has been discussing in recent months what can be done about these unfunded mandates.
Defiance has just begun a $50 million program over 20 years to remove more than 40 combined sewer overflows and upgrade sewers in the city.
Other area communities -- regardless of size -- are facing expensive mandates as well. Napoleon's program for eliminating combined sewer overflows, for example, figures to consume $33 million.
According to a statement made jointly by the two senators' offices, the bill would ensure that:
-- The implementation schedule for water quality-related improvements must be tailored to the affected community's unique financial condition.
-- A financial capability assessment should consider more broadly each community's economic situation.
-- Environmental improvements should be structured to mitigate the potential adverse impact of their cost on distressed populations.
The legislation would also establish a grant program providing $1.8 billion over five years for "financially distressed" communities to upgrade infrastructure. According to the senators, this would require a 25 percent share from communities "to use for planning, design and construction of treatment works to control combined and sanitary sewer overflows."
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