Our industry is lucky: We have a consistent silver lining during these cloudy economic times. Some may differ, but I believe consent decrees are our silver lining, providing a steady stream of rehabilitation work while reducing combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows to a reasonable and sustainable level.
Consent decrees are legal settlements issued by the EPA to enforce the Clean Water Act in a consistent and responsible manner. This legal action is the result of repeated and reported overflows of sewage into our waterways.
Many cities, particularly older cities such as Baltimore, are under consent decrees. I’m unaware of the exact number, but I do know many consent decrees are in effect and many more will follow throughout the year.
In the Mid-Atlantic area between Philadelphia and Richmond, Va., extending to the tidewater area of Virginia, about $10 billion in consent decree-ordered rehabilitation work is happening at this moment. Are consent decrees necessary? Are they helpful? Will there be more of them? The answers are clear: Yes, yes and yes.
Consent decrees are necessary because so many cities have been unable to find the will or the funding to protect the integrity of vital underground infrastructure. The “out of sight, out of mind” strategy of many politicians and the citizens who elect them has allowed our systems to deteriorate so badly that by 2020, some 75 percent of the sewers in many cities will have reached the end of their design life, according to the EPA and other industry resources.
Consent decrees are helpful to our industry because they force cities to find the funding. Politicians and citizens must face the reality of paying for maintenance on the infrastructure. Sometimes the funding can be found in increased user fees. Sometimes funds are found through bond issues or increased property taxes and other methods.
Politicians are not bad people, and Americans are not stupid. Many have simply never been educated about our infrastructure and the need to maintain it regularly. Fortunately, public awareness of the deterioration of our nation’s infrastructure is increasing. Efforts by NASSCO and other industry associations to fund and produce the “Liquid Assets” program, which aired on PBS stations nationwide in the fall of 2008, are helping bring our industry’s issues to the forefront.
Increased public awareness and consent decree work throughout the country will not only help sustain our industry, but will help protect that vital asset — the public sewer system.
Irvin Gemora is executive director of NASSCO. He can be reached at director@nassco.org. The NASSCO headquarters is at 11521 Cronridge Dr., Suite J, Owings Mills, MD 21117.
