02-13-1985 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Metro oofltavi CcXAvdI Suite 300, Metro Square Building, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101 POSITION PAPER FOR LEGISLATION ON COMBINED STORM AND SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOW Proposed Legislation The Council and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will ask the 1985 session of the Minnesota State Legislature to establish a state construction grants program to provide financing for accelerating the separation of sewers in Minneapolis, St. Paul and South St. Paul that convey both stormwater and sewage. The program would provide funding to meet state and federal permit compliance schedules for sewer separation in the Metropolitan Area. Funding alternatives under review include state or regional bonding and both grant and loan programs. Under one approach, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will also be requesting funding for outstate communities to meet federal Clean Water Act requirements. An annual appropriation in the $40 to $50 million range would be requested. Of this amount, 2 /5ths, or from $16 to $20 million, would be available to the Twin Cities Area for sewer separation, with 3 /5ths allocated to the rest of the state to meet mandated federal water quality deadlines. The Metropolitan Area portion, plus a share of the state's federal construction grant allotment dedicated to sewer separation, would be matched dollar - per - dollar by the three cities with local funds over a five -year period. Total estimated cost for the sewer separation program, not counting regional facilities, is $214 million. Why Action Is Needed Now When it rains, millions of gallons of stormwater, combined with untreated sewage and other wastes, pour out of 87 bypass pipes directly into the Mississippi River. Normally, the pipes convey the wastewater to the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission's Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant in St. Paul for treatment. However, the interceptor sewers leading to the plant are not large enough to handle heavy rain flow, so automatic bypass gates in the sewer system are opened to divert the wastewater into the river. During a year with average rainfall and snowmelt, an estimated 4.6 billion gallons of mixed sewage and storm- water pour into the river. It occurs, on the average, every three days during warm weather. Heavy rains also cause local street flooding and sewer backup in homes in some areas served by combined sewers. The federal Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of untreated sewage into any of the nation's waters. Rather, all sewage must receive treatment so that about 90 percent of the pollutants are removed prior to discharge into a water body. The combined sewer overflow discharges — 612291 -6359 require a state permit acceptable to the federal government that includes a mandatory plan and program to end the discharge. The discharges can be eliminated by completing a storm and sanitary sewer separation program initiated by the cities many years ago, or by collecting, storing and treating all the combined stormwater and sewage. The Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant currently treats 73 billion gallons of wastewater annually. It now meets state and federal standards. This was not always the case. It took ten years, and $400 million of state, federal and regional funds, to upgrade the plant to the point where its treated discharges have only a minimal impact on the Mississippi River. Priority was given to the plant during the last decade because its discharge was 16 times greater than was the total discharge from the 87 combined sewer overflow pipes on the Mississippi River. Figure 1 THE PROBLEM OF COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW Sewage Combined Sewer Overflow 4.6 billion gallons annually Stormwater With the Metro Plant up to standards, the next key step in cleaning up the Mississippi River is to figure out the best way to keep raw sewage from entering the river. Minneapolis, St. Paul and South St. Paul began to separate their sewers long before the major upgrading of the Metro Plant began. Their pipes are very old, and were built by the cities at a time when the prevailing way to "treat" wastewater was merely to dump it into rivers and lakes. Minneapolis has separated all but 13 percent and St. Paul 40 percent. As of 1982, Minneapolis had spent $85 million, and St. Paul $68 million, on separation. South St. Paul has separated 65 percent of its pipes at a $3 million cost to the city. At current spending rates, it would take 20 to 45 years to complete the separation. A five-year completion schedule financed solely by the three cities could bankrupt them. 11