Sewer Rate To Drain Residents

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) that the delayed increase will go into effect on March 1, 2007 in attempts to keep up with EPA regulations. Chief among those requirements is the federally mandated treatment of all water - wastewater and storm water combined.

Those fixes include the construction of subway-sized tunnels designed to collect sewage and storm water and direct it to beefed-up sewage treatment plants. These fixes could be in excess of $2 billion dollars.

The increase will be for Cleveland and all 53 communities serviced by the regional sewer district. If your city has a waste water treatment plant you should be affected.

The sewer rates will increase 10% more per a month with an expected 10% increase each January for the next four years. According to the regional sewer district officials the average users should see an increase of approximately $20 on your sewer bill.

In interviews with the local news outlets, Erwin O'Deal / District Executive Diretor, has said the increase will raise $225 million over 5 years for improvements mandated by the EPA and operating costs.

"Our board has agonized over this and we're not in a comfortable situation. "In the end, it's going to be a bitter and big pill for the public to swallow," O'Deal said.

"It doesn't seem equitable to the average citizen, but without any federal grant money to help, the user is the one that will have to pay for the improvements we're going to be required to make."

Several weeks ago at the NEORSD meeting, several residents voiced their displeasure along with trustee president Ron Sulik. Sulik asked Odeal and his staff to put together a full report supporting the rate increases, including showing what projects will save money in the long run.

Following a 5-1 vote today by trustees, the increase passed. Trustees have debated the increase for six months and are still discussing the time frame for the repairs. The sewer district is proposing spreading the repairs out over thirty years, whereas the EPA wants them done in twenty years to comply with the 1972 Clean Water Act and subsequent laws.

The regional sewer district has tried to keep costs for these mandated upgrades to a minimum. They have cut the pThe lone dissenting vote, frequent critic Trustee Gary Starr, mayor of Middleburg Heights, voted against the rate increase, saying he couldn't support what adds up to a 53.9 percent increase over five years in a region already home to "Cleveland, the poorest city in America.""This will hurt people and kill jobs," Starr said.

EPA reports dating from the mid-1980s show that rates have doubled in the last 20 years for both Cleveland and the suburbs covered under the regional sewer district.

That compares to rate increases of nearly 400 percent over the same time period in Youngstown and nearly 240 percent in Cincinnati; both cities have already begun paying to comply with EPA combined-sewer rules.

The sewer district has cut the proposed list of projects from $819 million to $580 million for this increase, which is only a portion of what is needed for the $2 billion needed over the next twenty years.

Cleveland residents now pay $28.10 and suburban residents $32.60 for every 7,480 gallons of water used, regarded as a monthly household average. Some residents pay much more, based on water usage. Officials have said the increase will be used to pay for $174.7 million in federally mandated projects and $405 million in upgrades to treatment facilities.

Overall sewer districts in general are having trouble with the financial burdens meeting these new EPA requirements. To help with financing the 1987 CWA Amendments created the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to replace Construction Grants program. The CWSRF is a loan program that provides low-cost financing.

Since 1987, states have used 96 percent (about $50 billion) of their CWSRF dollars to build, upgrade, or enlarge conventional wastewater treatment facilities and conveyances.

State Revolving Funds (SRFs) are also known as the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF). The Ohio WPCLF was created by the Ohio legislature in 1989.

The WPCLF has funded a variety of water pollution control projects (both point source and nonpoint source) under the authority of

Section 603(c) of the Clean Water Act and Section 6111.036 (A)(2)

of the Ohio Revised Code.

The Clean Water Act allows states to use their CWSRFs to (1) construct or improve conventional wastewater infrastructure, (2) control diffuse (nonpoint) sources of pollution such as agricultural runoff and leaking septic systems, and (3) protect federally-designated estuaries.

In June of 2006 the GAO prepared a report on how these CWSRF dollars were being spent. In this report to the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations it states -

Recent estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Congressional Budget Office suggest that, over the next 15 years, local communities will need hundreds of billions of dollars to construct and upgrade aging wastewater treatment facilities, sewer systems, and other projects that improve water quality and help safeguard public health and the environment.

These communities will rely on EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) to supplement the funds they obtain from their ratepayers to finance these efforts.

This help in financing is helpful, but the NEORSD only gets about $30 million a year from these low-interest loans. So the increase will just about make up the difference to maintain and improve sewers over 100 years old in some places.

But one needs to ask, is the sewer district spending smartly and being good watchdogs over our money? Take one guess!

Outspoken critic, trustee Gary Starr recently spoke with Channel 3 WKYC reporter Carl Monday -

"Why are these projects over the bid amount by 30, 40 and 50 percent range?" board member Gary Starr asked. "I think that's outrageous and unacceptable," he said.

There's the boiler replacement project at the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant."[The] Original bid was 1.75 million. Right now, its 58% -- you heard me correctly -- 58% over the bid amount, or one million dollars," he said.

But that's nothing compared to the inflated cost of the Mill Creek Tunnel."Right now, it is 45% over the bid amount, or 27 million in cost overruns," he said.

In Chicago, they recently completed a $2.5 billion reservoir restoration. Chicago's chief water district engineer tells us the project came in over budget but by less than one per cent (.06%).

He says the industry norm is around 10 percent, "Why are we asking three times the inflation rate -- 54% compounded over five years?" Starr asked. "Is there a better way? I think there is a better way: Accountability and streamlining the operations.

"Two years ago, we exposed questionable spending at the district's newly built headquarters. Like an $18,000 portrait of the sewer district founder. And a $100,000 water fall in the lobby.

Or how about a $1,000 floor clock or a $70 pencil holder? "You got to start asking questions. Who is accountable?"

Another example of wasteful spending in Cuyahoga County!

KING