Lynn (MA) Mayor Patrick J. McManus, Chair of the Conference of Mayors Urban Water Council, presided over the 2000 Summit at St. Petersburg Beach, Florida October 5-6. More than a dozen mayors and 60 local government officials and private sector participants convened to discuss the direction of national water policy, and what cities must do to provide water supply and improve water quality.

Mayor McManus led a panel of mayors who presented their views on major water quality and infrastructure issues. Mayor McManus noted that his recent meetings in China on water infrastructure development gave him a vivid example of how the lack of investment in water quality hurts the quality of life. "Lynn, Massachusetts, has received over $200 million in grants from the federal government in the past for water and sewer projects," said Mayor McManus. But federal grants have been diminished, and the cost for replacing and improving water infrastructure can be staggering."

McManus pointed out that more investment is necessary, but he warned that it should be smart investment. He described the experience in Lynn. Facing a requirement to prevent wet weather overflows from the wastewater treatment plant, the city could have taken a traditional design, build, operate project approach that was priced at around $450 million. Instead, Mayor McManus pursued a public/private partnership approach. He worked with a team to set a standard to achieve compliance with the overflow limits, and then initiated a Request For Proposals (RFP) which asked the private sector to propose how they would guarantee meeting the compliance standard through storage, sewer separation and/or any other technology. Mayor McManus announced that Lynn has just signed an agreement with US Filter to provide this service for $48 million dollars. While the Mayor said that more federal money should be devoted to local water infrastructure projects, he believes mayors should also take advantage of tremendous cost savings by seeking alternatives to the traditional project approach.

Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido described what his city is doing to implement infrastructure improvements to eliminate untreated Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) into the Rouge River. Mayor Guido described a two-phase capital project that involves an underground tunnel that would be constructed for about $285 million. "When completed, the tunnel project will be the most expensive capital project in Dearborn's history," stated the Mayor.

Mayor Guido said that some of the federal budget surplus should be diverted to local water infrastructure improvement, and he warned that mayors could soon find that deferred investments in any city become extremely costly.

Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic discussed watershed management issues and the Conference of Mayor's continued support of the "Action Plan" adopted in Reno in 1998. Mayor Plusquellic stressed the need for finding ways to fund clean water mandates. He pointed out that there is reason for caution when local governments commit multi-millions of dollars for public water infrastructure projects only to find that EPA has changed performance standards. He also commented that local governments are being forced into solving nonpoint source runoff problems by "default" because other sources, such as agricultural runoff, are not being held responsible for their contribution to water quality degradation.

Waco Mayor Linda Ethridge discussed watershed management issues related to Lake Waco, a sole source of surface drinking water for some communities, and a major water provider in the State Water Plan. Mayor Ethridge expressed concerns about the nonpoint discharges into the Bosque River, the largest of five tributaries to Lake Waco. Odor and water quality problems brought much attention to the Lake. The Clean Water Act requires states to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for pollutants that exceed water concentration limits. In the case of Lake Waco and the Bosque River one of the relevant pollutants is phosphorus. "In simple terms, a TMDL is a quantitative plan that determines the amount of a particular pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet its applicable water quality standards," said Mayor Ethridge. The plan involves the development of an inventory of sources for the phosphorus runoff, and the setting of limits for the various sources. The huge influx of dairy farms into the area and their animal feeding operations have been responsible for 65% of the annual phosphorus contributions into the Bosque River, and 35% of the phosphorus entering Lake Waco. Mayor Ethridge raised concerns about the additional expenses in treatment costs that are being passed on to the citizens, and are not borne by the diary farmers.

Joining the mayors was Dr. Michael Cook, Director for the Office of Wastewater of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Cook shared comments with the mayors on various regulatory programs the EPA is pursuing. In particular he reported on research pertaining to infrastructure capital and operations spending in the nation. According to Cook, the nation continues to loose ground in the effort to build and maintain the water infrastructure necessary to protect the public health.

Dr. Cook stated that even with good technology in place we will still need to employ more sophisticated technology to keep up with population pressures. We will experience serious system deterioration over the next two decades, and capital spending for water and wastewater will have to be doubled from $20 billion annually to $40 billion. While he expected there would be a federal role in addressing the investment gap, he also stated that state and local government would also be responsible for increased expenditure. Mayor McManus ended the Summit by stating his hope for all parties to come together to solve the water problems faced by the nation's cities. He announced that the Urban Water Council was planning to hold two municipal seminars on water infrastructure public/private partnerships next spring. Mayor McManus alerted the attendees to watch for a "save the date" announcement.