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State Officials Consider Wastewater Problems

40% of rivers don't meet goals for healthy aquatic life.

by Mark Pratt - Associated Press: 1/31/2001
(Article not in entirety)

Additional federal funds are needed to help pay for the more than $1 billion price tag for fixing and replacing the state's aging sewer systems, which pour millions of gallons of untreated sewage into waterways, state congressional and municipal leaders said Tuesday. "We need a substantial increase in the federal share," said Rep. Barney Frank, adding that the Bush administration's $1.6 trillion tax cut will complicate efforts to secure federal funds.

Combines sewer overflows, or CSOs, are sewer systems engineered to accommodate extra water - from storms or melting snow - that would otherwise overwhelm the system's capacity. When overflow occurs, it can carry with it untreated sewage and toxic materials that threaten public health and wildlife, environmental officials said at Tuesday's meeting.

Forty percent of the state's rivers don't meet standards for healthy aquatic life and 56 percent don't meet standards for swimming, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA requires communities with overflow problems to work toward developing and implementing solutions that bring sewer systems into compliance with federal clean water laws.

The cost of reducing overflow in 23 Massachusetts communities, including all MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority) communities, from 9.4 billion gallons to 6.6 billion gallons is more than $310 million and completion of the work is estimated to cost another $750 million. In all of New England, the estimated cost is $4 billion, and nationally, the estimate is at least $200 billion to meet the nation's wastewater infrastructure needs, according to Rep. James P. McGovern...There is a $5 billion to $6 billion annual gap between what is needed and what federal, state and local governments provide, McGovern said.

The federal government must step in because cities cannot pay the entire cost of fixing sewer overflow problems, Springfield Mayor Michael Albano said. "This initiative will cost us $140 million to $500 million. I simply don't know where my ratepayers are going to get the money. Please understand our plight." Some of the participants at the meeting encouraged cash-strapped cities to explore ways to reduce costs. Lynn Mayor Patrick McManus said his city saved more than $400 million by exploring moneysaving options. Meehan said the state's congressional delegation will go back to Washington to try to get colleagues from other states to address the issue because there are more than 100 communities nationwide with overflow problems, he said...

A follow-up meeting will be held within the next few months.

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