Published Sunday, February 9, 2003
Herald Staff Writer
Area municipalities are trying to come to terms with regulations that will force them to monitor storm water runoff.
Local officials fear the guidelines will eventually result in tremendous cost to municipalities, leaving their citizens to bare the brunt of the expense.
"I don't think there's any doubt this is going to get costly down the road, and it's going to get costly for residents," said Farrell City Manager LaVon Saternow.
While local officials are calling the regulations an unfunded mandate, a better term might be "underfunded mandate." There is state money available to help implement plans to address storm water runoff, but not enough to handle all the requests that will be made for it.
Sharpsville, Sharon, Hermitage and Farrell are required to seek state permits to discharge storm water, similar to those they already have for sanitary sewer water discharges.
Wheatland, West Middlesex and Shenango and South Pymatuning townships are eligible to apply for waivers that would allow them to duck the regulations.
The state Department of Environmental Resources has had storm water regulations in place since Act 167 of 1978, when the Storm Water Management Act required counties to come up with storm water management plans.
DEP did not enforce the act because of the cost of the plans, said Dennis Puko, executive director of Mercer County Regional Planning Commission.
Such a plan would have to be conducted for the entire Shenango River Watershed, which includes Lawrence and Crawford counties.
In 1989, officials estimated coming up with the plan would cost $500,000, which would be split between counties, Puko said.
But the federal Clean Water Act of 1999 obliges DEP to meet certain federal requirements, and state officials chose Act 167 as the cornerstone of its plan to adhere to those guidelines, said Francis R. Albright, project specialist for Gannett Fleming Inc., Pittsburgh.
The company is a consulting engineer for Farrell and Sharon's sanitary sewer operations, and has been working with them on the storm water regulations. It also has been contacted by Shenango Township and will make a presentation at the supervisors' meeting Monday.
Previous water-control regulations have focused on limiting pollution from industrial sites, municipal waste water treatment plants and other easily identified points.
The federal government is now interested in storm water because the polluting quality of gas, oil, road salt, lawn chemicals and garbage that wash from roads, driveways and lawns into waterways.
Hermitage City Manager Gary Hinkson said that while he recognizes the importance of the environment, meeting the regulations will be an administrative nightmare for local governments.
"I don't see the necessity," said Sharpsville Borough Manager Michael Wilson.
Municipalities that are in urbanized areas have to apply for the permits.
The Shenango Valley is considered urbanized because of Mercer County has been attached to Youngstown as a Metropolitan Statistical Area, a Census Bureau designation, Albright said.
Some larger communities that would seem to share much in common with the Shenango Valley are not subject to the regulations. Albright said New Castle does not have to apply for a permit, while it's up to DEP to decide if Meadville does, he said.
Sharpsville, Sharon, Hermitage and Farrell must develop plans because they have populations of greater than 1,000, Albright said.
Much of Farrell is served by a system that handles both sanitary sewer and storm water, and both kinds are treated before being discharged. Only the part of town in which storm water is channeled separately, roughly east of Mercer Avenue, is subject to the regulations, said Dan Goncz, project engineer for Gannett Fleming.
Wheatland and West Middlesex are considered urbanized, but might be allowed to bow out of managing storm water because they have populations under 1,000, Albright said.
The parts of Shenango and South Pymatuning that are considered urbanized have less than 1,000 people in them, he said
But, Albright added, population density also is a factor. While the urbanized section of South Pymatuning has 700 people, the population density is greater than 1,000 people in a square mile.
"I think South Pymatuning could go either way," Albright said.
Puko added that West Middlesex's population and density are close enough to 1,000 that they may be turned down for a waiver.
Municipalities have until March 10 to either apply for a discharge permit or for a waiver.
"The time frame that they're giving us to work with is ridiculous," Wilson said.
While Wheatland council agreed last week to apply for a waiver and, in the case that the waiver is denied, apply for an extension, Albright said towns hoping for waivers must essentially apply for a permit anyway.
The March 10 deadline is federally mandated and no extensions will be given, he said. Communities that do not meet it could be subject to fines of up to $27,500 a day for each discharge point, Albright said.
There are two kinds of permits, both of which are good for five years. With a general permit, a community agrees to meet guidelines set by DEP, and cannot negotiate or appeal details. It costs $100.
An individual permit costs $500, but towns can negotiate components and appeal.
In each case, municipalities can team up and apply jointly for a single permit, and split the costs.
Farrell council agreed last week to join up with Sharon, and Sharon officials have expressed an interest in a joint permit.
Hermitage City Manager Gary Hinkson said that while commissioners have not discussed the storm water regulations -- they will at a workshop Wednesday -- he favors applying for a permit alone.
He said the city could always decide to join with another community later but, if you file a joint application, the city could not pull out later.
Wilson, who will discuss the issue with council Monday, said he also favors going it alone. If Sharpsville joins with a consortium and the state finds a discharge violation in one town, it will go after all the consortium members.
Albright told Farrell council that DEP will only target the offending community when a violation is found in a town that participates in a joint permit.
Once the permit is secured, municipalities are compelled to meet several requirements, including mapping storm water discharge points, approving developer's plans for the construction and maintenance of storm water facilities, and educating citizens on storm water issues.
Officials say the most potentially costly requirement of the permit is detecting illicit discharges and eliminating them.
The regulations address dry weather discharges, which are defined as water coming through the storm water system 72 hours after a rainfall of at least one-tenth of an inch, Albright said
The community is required to take samples of the discharges and send them for lab testing.
If any of 12 pollutants are found in the samples, such as bacteria, the municipality must look for the cause and eliminate it, Albright said.
One of things such an investigation could find is a sanitary sewer line illegally connected to a storm sewer drain, Albright said.
But, he added, the presence of bacteria in the storm water system also could be caused by an animal that has died or defecated in a sewer pipe.
Keeping animals out of sewer pipes is just about impossible, Albright said.
DEP has not decided what to do in the event that no source of the pollution is found, he said.
The state is making money available for counties to come up with storm water management plans, and municipalities to meet the requirements of their permits. The state will reimburse entities for 75 percent of the cost.
The problem is this pot of money is underfunded. The General Assembly has set aside $1.2 million, while the cost of completing storm water plans in Allegheny County alone is $17 million, Albright said.
DEP is lobbying the legislature to make more money available, he said.
Hinkson added that local governments cannot apply for the money unless a county plan is in place.
"We don't have one," he said.
Puko said he is asking DEP to allow the county do conduct a plan only on the part of the watershed in the county to cut down on the cost of the study.
You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at
jpinchot@sharonherald.com