Steven Preston has little sympathy for local governments that are facing the potentially expensive proposition of implementing storm-water control efforts.

But Bruce Kidd thinks new rules are just another example of over-regulation by the federal government. Preston and Kidd are members of environmental and outdoors groups in Mercer County.

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.

They also will need to map storm-water discharge points, approve developer's plans for storm-water facilities and educate citizens on storm-water issues.

Wheatland and West Middlesex and Shenango and South Pymatuning townships are eligible to apply for waivers that would allow them to duck the regulations.

Preston, of Coolspring Township, said the regulations, which were set by federal law and passed down to the states to enforce, are overdue.

"I've been strongly for that for a long time," he said. "They should have done that years and years ago."

Development has disrupted the natural method of handling storm water, he said. For every parking lot, there is less ground to soak up the water and purify it.

Speaking of Hermitage, Preston said, "The dang place is paved. How many acres is there now that water is no longer going into the ground?"

Preston said he's not worried about the potential cost on local governments to meet the regulations, which officials said might have to be paid by tax dollars.

"That's the price we pay for living in an environmentally sound way and a sustainable way," said the member of the Shenango River Watchers and the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs and a Cub Scout leader.

Kidd, of Sharon, said that while he's for clean water, the regulations are a result of "the lame brains in Harrisburg and Washington."

"It's totally absurd what they're trying to do," said the member of the Shenango River Watchers and the Trappers Association. "If they really want to clean the river basin up, which I'm for, I think it needs to be dredged."

Kidd said government regulations are driving businesses out of the country, which hurts the Shenango Valley's chances at improving its economy.

"The last thing we have to do is chase any more industries from this valley." he said. "We need to bring more here."

Preston said he's not against development, just the way it has turned into sprawl.

"I believe in development, but we can manage it in a sustainable way," he said. "We' don't need to be breaking every farmer's field up to build on it."

Rick Barborak runs the middle ground between Preston and Kidd. The vice president of Shenango River Watchers said the guidelines are a good idea, but it's unfortunate that there isn't more money available to local governments to meet them.

The state has a program to reimburse up to 75 percent of the local cost, but the program does not have enough money to honor all local requests.

River Watchers takes samples of the Shenango River just about every month to measure quality and has seen the damage storm water can do.

Barborak said of Pine Run, which runs along the Shenango Valley Freeway in Hermitage and Sharon, "That creek's pretty dead from the stuff running off the Freeway."

Sewage still is a major problem with local waterways, particularly in the Shenango River, but also in little Pine Run.

"Unfortunately, the sewer systems can't handle it because the storm sewers can't handle it," he said.

Environmentalists said individuals need to cut out environmentally unfriendly actions such as dumping motor oil and other harmful substances into drains and flushing anything down the toilet other than what they are designed to handle.

"That's the way we've done business forever," Kidd said, acknowledging the effort would have to overcome a mindset passed down through the generations.

"We have to be conscious of what we do -- it's as simple as that," Kidd said. "But I don't think any more regulations are going to do it."

Preston said each person must understand how his or her actions affect others.

"People live in such small worlds without understanding how their world is integral to everybody else's world," he said. "If everybody does a little bit, it will get done."

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at

jpinchot@sharonherald.com