Small Ohio communities get buried trying to meet wastewaster regs

Throughout Ohio, towns with only handfuls of residents are facing orders to install multi-million dollar wastewater systems. And the bills for the costly sewer systems then run downhill to the village residents.
Such is the case with Continental, a small town southwest of Bowling Green.
"People will move out of that town. They won't pay the bills. It will be a ghost town," predicted Robert Armstrong, mayor of the nearby community of Defiance.
Similar concerns were expressed over and over Friday during a discussion between elected officials and Environmental Protection Agency representatives, at Bowling Green State University.
The problem is clear, but the solution as murky as the untreated sewage discharge under discussion.

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"A lot of people are amazed we still have untreated sewage going into our rivers," said Peter Swenson, chief of the U.S. EPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
On the other side of the issue, village officials expressed their shock at finding out how much it costs to put in new sewer systems, or separate their existing wastewater systems. One Henry County village of 285 residents faces a bill of $4 million.
"It would be cheaper for the EPA to buy the village and move the people out," said Congressman Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green.
According to the Ohio EPA, Ohio's capital investment needs for publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities are $12.9 billion. U.S. Senator George Voinovich, R-Ohio, had planned to be at Friday's meeting to discuss the Water Quality Investment Act, which would authorize $1.8 billion in federal grants to fund the repair and replacement of combined sewer overflows and sanitary sewer overflows. The senator's flight, however, was delayed due to bad weather.
Communities without public sewers are finding themselves under orders to install systems, while many with older systems are finding them outdated.
"It gets more expensive every single month," to pay for the systems, according to Ken Fallows, chairman of the environmental council of the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments.
Meanwhile, the funding sources are drying up. And the chunks of funds available are also shrinking, forcing communities to go through complicated application processes over and over, to get relatively small portions of money.
"The money's dwindling," Fallows said.
And the smaller the community, the harder the financial hit since there are fewer residents to split the cost.

Fallows showed estimated per household of costs for wastewater treatment projects in various local communities. They ranged from a low of $1,647 per household in Toledo, to $8,962 in North Baltimore, $15,640 in Risingsun, and peaking at $26,743 in tiny West Millgrove.
In Fremont, Mayor Terry Overmyer said water and sewer costs per customer would have to be doubled to meet mandated updates. That has led the city's largest manufacturer to threaten a possible move from the city.
And in Defiance, Armstrong said the city's new $60 million system will be hard to swallow for low income residents.
"I look at people's pocketbooks," he said.
Latta said he shared those concerns of local government leaders.
"One of the scariest days is when you get a letter from the EPA," Latta said, referring to his years as Wood County commissioner. "There just aren't enough dollars out there in the community to make the projects work. And I don't want to see people leaving Ohio."
The average Ohio resident doesn't understand the massive costs to install or update wastewater systems, according to Sheila Frace, director of the U.S. EPA Office of Wastewater Management Municipal Support Division.
"They want to know when they flush the toilet, it goes away — and stays away," Frace said.
The nation's infrastructure needs over the next 20 years for water treatment is estimated at $275 billion, while wastewater needs are pegged at $200 billion, Frace said. While those numbers seem "phenomenally large," they are probably actually low, she added.
"It is a huge challenge for the entire nation," Frace said. "At the local level, you face it front and center."
Making matters worse is the "unprecedented" shortfall in funding available to meet those needs, according to Meg Klepic, of the Ohio EPA Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance.
"This will mean greater economic burdens on citizens," she said.
Though few concrete ideas were offered to the elected officials, Fallows, the former mayor of Haskins, urged towns to plan ahead years in advance for the inevitable expenses.
"You can't just wait till you have a crack in the waterline," he said.