Agenda Packets - 1985/01/02 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

FL-4. WASTEWATER TREATMENT (cunt'd) The League supports the creation of a federal loan program to assist in the financing of wastewater treatment projects, but only as a supplement to the existing grant program and not as a replacement program. Federal grants should be made to the states through water quality block grants, with the focus on achieving significant improvement of water quality. Oversight by EPA should be restricted to general oversight of grant administration by the State agencies responsible, such as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. A great deal of the costs of construction is directly attributable to delays in processing the grants and reviewing the projects. There is little doubt that the administrative costs could be reduced significantly by employing block grant deliveries to the states. Clean water is important to the economic and social well-being of not only the State of Minnesota, but the nation as a whole. The League supports the federal government's recognition of water quality as a national problem and feels the establishment of national water quality standards is appropriate, providing that the federal government assists in funding necessary programs. Assistance from the federal government is necessary if there is to be any hope of meeting the 1988 target date for effluent standards. If federal funds are not available to support the requirements and objective of the Act, timetables for meeting these requirements should be postponed or the requirements reduced. The League suggests that the Environmental Protection Agency's compliance policy should be modified so that municipal wastewater treatment compliance plans can be structured to achieve the level of compliance that is consistent with federal financial assistance. Additionally, the League recommends that wastewater treatment programs be modified to provide financing to upgrade alternative environmentally sound systems of on -site or community disposal of domestic and commercial waste in cities. The existing system has tended to rely too heavily on single solution approaches which may not be rppropriate or economically feasible in small communities. As a result, small cities have been required to install very costly central collection and treatment systems without regard to cost/benefit considerations or their ability to finance the continuing operation of such systems. Similarly, larger cities have been discouraged from using alternative strategies where they might be appropriate. FL-5. LEAD -CONTAMINATED SOIL The League of Minnesota Cities urges Congress to take action to as weir as Seat Cities are pre-empted by the federal government from taking action to protect residents from automotive lead emissions since regulation of air quality -52-