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Simplify nutrient trading debate: Focus on allowances, not reductions
For Bay to profit, we must be willing to make a serious investment
Pollution permits would allow caps a fighting chance to succeed
It was a sopping 4th of July celebration on the Washington D.C. Mall this year. The display of pyrotechnics labored through the downbursts of rain, exploded, then fell silent; and off went the mass of people back to their cars and the metro.
Pedestrians crossing 15th Street. had to avoid the massive puddles growing steadily at the entrance of a storm drain. Although I thought it a body of water large enough for my canoe, most of the eventgoers paid the pool no special attention. Why should they, it was nothing new in the District of Columbia. For decades, that puddle has appeared every time a major rainstorm hits.
While storm drain overflow is hazardous for most D.C. pedestrians, a far more serious kind of damage is in progress at the points of output. According to the EPA, billions of gallons of sewage flows into the Potomac River and finally into the Chesapeake Bay each year as a result of sewer system overflow from all of the municipal sources along the Potomac.
Toxic sewage overflow is not a problem specific to the District, as other cities along the Potomac have also been identified with this form of pollution.
The government and the public are aware of this issue and are taking steps to resolve it. But the challenges to implement a solution are monumental, and progress is slow.
A historical look at the sewer systems along the Potomac explains why sewage overflows into the watershed occur.
More than a quarter century ago, municipalities built pipe systems that combined sewage and stormwater to blend and reduce the sewage toxicity levels prior to release.
Now, when a hard rainstorm hits the city, water levels in the combined sewer/runoff system rise quickly and exceed the maximum treatment capacity. Toxic sewage and trash from runoff spill over the pipe’s retention walls and flow, untreated, into the Potomac.
Last year, the EPA estimated that approximately 700 million gallons of sewage entered the Potomac from District alone, as a result of sewer spillage. Cumberland, MD, located 136 miles to the northwest, has the same type of sewer/ runoff system and was responsible for spilling roughly 55 million gallons of sewage into the Potomac River.
As a result of the billion or so cumulative gallons of sewage dumped into the river each year, irregularly high levels of microbial fecal bacteria are introduced to the aqueous environment.
The bacteria cause disease and harm to the river ecosystem and humans, making the water unsafe for recreational activities involving water contact.
Untreated sewage and runoff also contain nutrients that add to the already excessive levels of nutrients and sediment in the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay. The sewer overflow is a major cause of the raging algae growth problem that damages the natural habitat of the river and Bay bottom.
Maryland has ordered municipalities along the Potomac to retrofit their existing sewer systems.
Cumberland has studied their water flow the last several years and recently developed a 20-year plan to upgrade their system. The plan introduces a runoff pipe to a 25-million gallon underground storage tank that will provide an emergency holding place for overflow during major rainstorms. After water levels have subsided to normal, the tank contents would be released back into the regular system and properly treated.
The District of Columbia is proposing a similar infrastructure to upgrade its combined sewer/runoff system, at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
A majority of environmentalists have thought that the best solution is to implement a system that consists of separate sewage and runoff pipes.
That approach is not one Cumberland city officials agree with. Fred Street, Cumberland’s director of utilities, believes that a separate sewer and runoff system is not the best solution, mainly because he anticipates that all outflows will have to be treated in the future.
Cumberland officials also estimate that the cost of a separate sewage/runoff system could run as high as $200 million, compared with the $34 million price tag for implementing Cumberland’s proposed upgrade. Funding is a problem, and is the city’s largest challenge.
Municipalities that manage their sewer systems are financially responsible for the upgrades. These small, mostly rural cities are forced to bear the costly bill for something that is being ordered upon them by the state government.
Cumberland has received $5 million from the EPA and $2 million from the Maryland Department of Environment to retrofit their sewer system. That leaves the city $27 million short and uncertain about completing the project. Street doesn’t know where the rest of the money will come from and believes that the state and federal governments that mandate the sewer system upgrades should fund them.
Residents and property owners will feel the financial impact, as utility rates will increase to fund the upgrade projects. To implement its plans, District officials estimate a 20 percent increase in sewer utility rates while Cumberland anticipates a 40 percent increase in rates.
City governments fear that the rate increases will push residents out of the city to nearby municipalities that have lower or no sewer utility charges.
To quell the fear of resident loss and solve financial challenges, a new creative approach could be the winning tactical move. This problem is not new, as environmentalists have studied the problem for more than 30 years.
The successful efforts of local associations and larger organizations like the EPA and Chesapeake Bay Foundation have proved that retrofitting these environmentally harmful sewer systems is necessary to achieve water quality standards in line with the Clean Water Act of 1977. If advocates from environmental organizations were to team up with municipality trade associations and city officials, it would be a powerful and persuasive team.
That collaborative team could develop strategies and tactical plans to create the awareness and demand for necessary funding. It would provide the catalyst to actually start sewer system upgrades and get out of a seemingly endless planning stage.
Hesitation should exist no longer. The Potomac River is regarded as one of the nation’s most historic sites in America. In 1988, the Potomac River was designated as an American Heritage River with 13 other American rivers.
Glenn Kinser, Potomac River Navigator at American Heritage Rivers, states, “If we use the Potomac as an example of good environmental stewardship, it is certain that other communities will work to restore their rivers as well.”
