By Brett Rosenberg
January 11, 2010

Akron Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic, Past President of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, led a discussion on the on-going crisis of stormwater management in the nation's cities. Specifically, the mayors grappled with the complexities and expense of negotiating wet weather overflows from combined sanitary/storm sewer systems with the EPA and the Department of Justice.

In many cities, particularly older ones, a single sewer system carries both stormwater and sewage from homes and businesses to treatment plants. Rain and melting snow often overwhelm these systems, causing untreated sewage to enter local waterways.

While there is general agreement among mayors and federal regulators that combined sewer overflows (CSOs) can be harmful to public health and the environment, the means of alleviating CSOs and their affects are often contentious. Furthermore, as Plusquellic and others demonstrated, there is a perception among many local leaders that the federal government is inconsistent in how it enforces CSO compliance protocols throughout the country and often ignores specific local conditions, such as affordability factors and existing plans for cleaner water.

Plusquellic mentioned that Akron has spent millions of dollars and worked for over a decade with state regulators to develop and act on a plan to fix Akron's CSOs. The city moved forward on a long term control plan that included raising water rates by six percent to finance a tunnel that has prevented about 35 percent of its untreated stormwater water from entering the Cuyahoga River, the first in a series of rate increases and major projects. However, in spite of an agreement between Akron and the state, the US EPA moved in, questioned the plan and essentially demanded changes that would have cost the city a half billion dollars for additional projects. Meanwhile, as Akron, the state and the EPA negotiated over the years, water quality improvements were at a standstill. Throughout his experience with the EPA, Plusquellic said that its overall lack of flexibility halted progress.

Lima (OH) Mayor David Berger shared similar experiences. He has spent 10 of his 21 years as mayor engaged in CSO issues. He said that the city had reached an agreement with state regulators and was ready to move forward on a CSO control plan it had spent $10 million developing, but the US EPA pre-empted its approval. Had Lima been able to proceed, Berger said the city by now would have been nearly finished updating treatment facilities. Instead, he's not sure of the endpoint and no water has been treated. He said he has no sense of partnership with the agency, stating, "Cities are treated as polluters – we're criminals," and that these attitudes permeate the decision-making process.

Based on unfunded federal requirements, Berger anticipates a 400 percent increase in Lima's utility rates to pay for CSO control. "Where poor and low income people fit has to be front and center," he said.

Mayors Ron Littlefield of Chattanooga (TN) and Joy Cooper of Hallandale Beach (FL) echoed these sentiments. Littlefield said that rates have tripled in recent years, causing a backlash from residents, businesses and industrial customers. Many, Littlefield said, have moved out of the utility's service area, taking their tax base with them and contributing to sprawl. Cooper, a Conference of Mayors Advisory Board member and Director of the Florida League of Cities, said she strongly advocates that the state legislature not pass laws they won't pay for, stating, "We need to wake up the American Public that we're not the enemy – we're charged with making things happen."

Plusquellic, in closing the session, suggested that America modify the Constitution, adding the following new amendment:

"Congress shall pass no law requiring local, regional or state government to undertake a capital or operating improvement obligation unless Congress shall first appropriate at least 50 percent of the cost of said obligation."

Earlier this year, The House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment – part of the larger Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – invited three mayors to testify at a hearing on stormwater runoff, thanks in large part to the new promise of transparency and accountability under the auspices of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The mayors, Tom Leppert of Dallas, Mark Funkhouser of Kansas City (MO) and Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, provided details of how their cities have incorporated green infrastructure into existing stormwater management programs, while often struggling to improve existing infrastructure and meet unfunded mandates.