Clean Water Advocacy - News Releases - March 13,
2002
For Immediate Release: March 13, 2002 Contact:
Alexandra Dunn, 202/533-1803, AMSA
AMSA Testifies on House’s Water Infrastructure
Legislation The Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) applauds the leadership of the House
Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee on introducing
the Water Quality Financing Act of 2002 (H.R. 3930) on
behalf of this nation's core wastewater infrastructure. This
legislation appropriately commemorates this year's 30th Anniversary
of the Clean Water Act (CWA) by demonstrating that Congress is ready
to renew its long-term commitment with states and municipalities to
ensure our nation's clean water progress.
Pat Karney, Director of the Metropolitan Sewer District of
Greater Cincinnati (MSD) and a member of the Association of
Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) will testify on behalf of
AMSA. MSD's 650 environmental professionals serve 800,000 users in
Hamilton County. AMSA represents more than 270 publicly-owned
treatment works (POTWs) across the country which treat more than 18
billion gallons of wastewater every day and serve the majority of
the U.S. sewered population.
Pat Karney's testimony discusses the vast wastewater
infrastructure needs of local governments and hopes the legislation
as introduced will solidify long-term federal support for this
important concern. Karney states that "local government water
quality needs are great for many reasons, including the tremendous
infrastructure investments necessary to repair, replace and
rehabilitate existing infrastructure and meet current needs
associated with combined sewer (CSO) and sanitary sewer (SSO)
overflow programs and requirements. MSD alone needs between $1 and
$3 billion dollars for design and construction to reduce CSOs and
SSOs. These figures exclude our regular operations and maintenance
costs and the cost of planned infrastructure repairs and
rehabilitation. Additionally, as I testified before you on October
10, 2001, we now must make significant investments to upgrade
facility security."
AMSA supports the legislation's provision allowing state
revolving fund (SRF) applicants to use the funds for security
projects and applauds H.R. 3930's provisions providing $20 billion
over the next five years towards the SRF. At the same time, AMSA
believes the SRF process should be further streamlined and is
concerned that the legislation would place some unnecessary hurdles
to obtaining SRF funding. As discussed more fully in the testimony,
these provisions include requiring utilities to develop asset
management plans, explore public private partnerships and develop
long-term rate structures — all of which municipalities by and large
are already doing and which will only serve to discourage utilities
from applying for SRF funds.
AMSA also seeks to allow states greater flexibility to target
grant funding to a wider array of infrastructure projects. As Pat
Karney says, "We believe it is essential to ensure that states have
the authority to define these affordability criteria broadly, with
the result that municipalities with priority projects due to public
health risks and environmental impairment — as well as those meeting
traditional affordability parameters — are eligible for such
funding."
AMSA looks forward to continuing its work with the T&I
Committee and thanks them for taking this important step towards
ensuring and building upon the environmental and public health gains
made over the past 30 years since enactment of the Clean Water Act.
AMSA's testimony is available at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/advocacy/testimony/3-13-02testimony.cfm.
1816 Jefferson Place, Washington, DC 20036-2505 •
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