Cost For Clean Water Hard To Swallow

January 2, 2015- Water management, specifically for reducing pollution from stormwater runoff in Connecticut, is in the news.

In a report titled "State Pollution Plan Could Cost Communities $100 Million" the website NewsTimes.com writes that the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) held a news conference urging the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to reject a proposal aimed at cutting the amount of pollutants — including petroleum residue and fecal matter — that end up in municipal stormwater systems and, subsequently, rivers, lakes and streams.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton told the gathering that the costs are so high that communities could be forced to choose between complying with the plan and hiring a teacher, police officer or other needed personnel.

"We certainly want to be good stewards of the environment, but what they're asking of us is burdensome and absurd," he said, quoted in the report.

But DEEP officials countered by saying that they're being pressed by federal authorities to reduce stormwater pollution.

"Water carried into rivers and streams from stormwater systems can contain significant levels of contaminants and is a major reason for poor water quality in many of this state's water bodies," said DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain, also quoted in the report. "The (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency is pushing states to address this issue and it is time we do so."

NewsTimes.com writes that the DEEP plan requires communities to make such changes as increasing street sweeping, launching new leaf-collection programs and increases community requirements for de-icing and snow removal.

Town and city leaders said they have no objections to improving water quality, but some of the measures proposed by the state exceed the EPA's requirements, and could cost some municipalities millions in equipment and man-hours.

According to a CCM survey, Danbury expects to spend about $4.6 million if it implements the measures in the proposal. Estimated figures for New Milford were $2.3 million and Newtown about $6.3 million.

Schain tells NewsTimes.com DEEP understands the proposal asks a lot of the communities. "We understand the concerns the municipalities are raising," he said. "Everyone is living on a tight budget right now."

One environmental group, the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, has spoken out in favor of the state's proposal, stressing the importance of curbing stormwater pollution.

"The cost to the public and our shared environment from not cleaning up municipal stormwater pollution cannot be overstated," said Roger Reynolds, the fund's legal director. "Federal law requires that we have safe, healthy, and swimmable water, which is a core public-health concern and a right for all Connecticut residents.

"Keeping polluted stormwater runoff — which includes disease-carrying bacteria from pet waste, nutrient-heavy leaf material that sucks oxygen from lakes and (Long Island) Sound, and oils, salts, and chemicals from roads and yards — out of our waters will protect citizens around the state," says Reynolds.

Read the full NewsTimes.com post here.

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