By Rich Anderson
July 4, 2011

Water Council Co-Chairs Pleasanton (CA) Mayor Jennifer Hosterman and Baltimore (MD) Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake convened a meeting of the Mayors Water Council on June 17 in Baltimore at the 79th Annual Meeting of The U.S. Conference of Mayors. Unfunded EPA water mandates and Public-

Private Partnerships were discussed.

Hosterman briefed mayors on the status of the USCM-EPA-DOJ dialogue on sewer overflow enforcement actions and consent agreements. She reported that a meeting between city water engineers and EPA staff from headquarters and some regional offices took place in Washington (DC) on March 22. City representatives articulated frustration over the negotiation process with EPA and DOJ concerning abridged compliance schedules, overly costly long term control plans required by the regulators, arbitrary determination of the allowable number of overflows per year, and the lack of flexibility on EPA’s part to allow cities to trade green for grey infrastructure in the control plans.

Hosterman applauded an EPA Memorandum to their Regional Offices calling for greater flexibility to incorporate green infrastructure for compliance purposes. She said the Memorandum specifically mentioned using green infrastructure to comply with sewer overflow enforcement actions.

Hosterman ended the report by pointing out that many mayors are calling for legislative action to address the concerns over compliance costs, schedules, and overly strict long term control plans.

Former Rahway (NJ) Mayor James Kennedy provided a status report on the 13-year partnership between the city and United Water who operates the city’s drinking water plant. Kennedy, who is credited with stabilizing the city’s financial status early in the first of his five terms as mayor, also pioneered the partnership with United Water. He stated that 13 years after the partnership was established the nay'sayers have been proven wrong. The project has handily delivered on the public benefits it promised.

When Kennedy took over as mayor, the water system had experienced two consecutive years of deficits. He stated that the state brought pressure on the city to hand over the facility to a regional authority. Instead, Kennedy and the city council sought to maintain control of the system through a partnership approach. Many years later and after substantial capital reinvestment, the facility is operated within budget and continues to serve the residents well. Part of the capital reinvestment involved upgraded metering which had the effect of increasing revenues. This operating adjustment has allowed the city to continue service and still be one of the systems with the lowest customer rates.

Rawlings-Blake provided an update on several water mandates including the Chesapeake Bay Clean-up, anticipated municipal storm water (MS4) permit requirements, and the 2002 Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Consent Decree. She remarked that these mandates overlap in compliance schedules, in the choice of technical solutions, and they have significant implications for the city in terms of financing capital investments.

The mayor stated that the key to meeting the Bay Clean-up for Baltimore is to achieve enhanced nutrient removal at a cost of $900 million to the city. In addition to raising rates, the city is looking for loans from the State Revolving Loan Fund and the Maryland Bay Restoration Fund. She said that these funding sources are not available to Baltimore so the municipal customers will have to cover the cost.

The anticipated changes to the MS4 permit limits will require the city to increase pervious acreage to reduce storm water run-off. The status of the city’s MS4 permits is uncertain, but whatever happens with those permits will not affect the looming 2017 Bay Clean-up requirements, even though storm water management will have a significant impact on that program.

Susan Parker Bodine of Barnes & Thornburg provided an update on EPA’s effort to reduce nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) discharges into water bodies. Bodine reported last December that in Florida EPA has issued federal numeric nutrient criteria (NNC), which supersede the state’s standards and will apply to municipal permits for POTWs and stormwater. Such numeric nutrient criteria represents control requirements beyond best management practices and creates reduction targets that cities will have to achieve. Now, EPA is aggressively moving forward to compel other states to establish NNCs.

Bodine stated that concerns have been raised by local government, states and other stakeholders about the scientific validity of the NNC that EPA is promoting. Hallandale Beach (FL) Mayor Joy Cooper commented in an earlier meeting of the Mayors Water Council that the cost to comply with the NNCs in Florida could exceed $70 billion. Bodine remarked that the high cost of compliance with this regulatory requirement should be balanced with clear environmental benefits. Many in the regulated community have asked EPA to more clearly articulate the environmental benefits, and to perform a cost-benefit analysis to justify yet another unfunded federal mandate under the Clean Water Act.