No one wants to see local sewer bills go up by roughly 90 percent in a single year, but that’s exactly what officials at Logansport Municipal Utilities expect will happen in 2011.
They expect that the average customer’s $5 monthly bill will rise to $9 that year. And then it will keep going up for at least 15 years.
The reason is that Logansport faces a federal mandate to separate its storm and sanitary sewers.
This mandate has been coming down the pipeline at least since Congress passed the U.S. Clean Water Act of 2000.
Now officials are getting close to a final plan, and they’re hopng to spread the project out over as many years as possible. They’re also hoping that the least expensive projects they’ll be tackling first will make a bigger difference than they expect, perhaps allowing them to scale back on some of those more expensive projects they have scheduled toward the end of what they hope will be a 25-year timeline.
They also hope that they will be able to line up some grants to take some of the burden off local residents.
In the end, though, Logansport will have to tackle the bulk of the proposed $71 million project.
We can understand why local elected officials might want to say there’s just no way Logansport can take on such a project. After all, projections show that by the final year of this effort the average monthly sewer bill will be about $50, or 10 times what it is today.
Nevertheless, the city has no real choice.
Failure to comply with the mandate would bring stiff penalties, including a ban on sewer connections. That means that until the city got back into the federal government’s good graces, it would be barred from adding new homes or businesses to the sewer system, and that would effectively kill economic development.
Besides, what city really wants to be known for dumping raw sewage into its rivers? Clean rivers, after all, are what this federal mandate is all about.
On a dry day, the combined sewers work fine, but at a time of heavy rains, raw sewage finds its way into the Eel and Wabash rivers. Consultants say that happened more than 110 times last year.
The goal of these sewer improvements is to reduce that number, to make sure that raw sewage finds its way to the rivers only on rare occasions.
And that’s a goal we should all be able to support.
Editorials
For sewers, can’t is not an option
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More than just an extra day off
Monday is Memorial Day, a time when the nation pauses to remember those who have given their lives in defense of the freedoms we all enjoy. It’s great to have a long weekend, but let’s not forget the holiday’s original meaning.
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Have fun, safe start to summer
Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the summer season. Have fun this weekend, but be sure to keep it safe.
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Meeting students where they are
A mall-based alternative school in Indianapolis is working to reach students who weren’t able to succeed in a traditional classroom. The approach is similar to the one now being taken by Logansport schools.
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Postal service listens to small towns
The U.S. Postal Service plans to keep smaller post offices open by scaling back the hours at those and other offices. The postal service deserves credit for listening to the concerns of its customers.
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A history lesson on two wheels
The Cass County Historical Society staged its second annual bike tour last weekend. The event raises money for a great cause while offering participants to get some exercise and learn a bit of local history.
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Stormwater fees about to go up
The Logansport Stormwater Management Board is considering a 51-percent increase in its monthly rate. The board is about to launch into a huge project, and residents would do well to tune into the process.
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A day to say thanks to moms
Today is Mother’s Day, an observance that dates back more than a century. Mothers everywhere deserve our gratitude for the love they showed and the lessons they taught.
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Six-to-Six program offers promise
A new program called Six-to-Six aims to work with middle school students facing suspension from school. Catching issues when kids are still in middle school should cut down on the number of teenagers who go on to drop out of school or wind up in jail.
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Council can’t have it both ways
The Logansport City Council is considering an ordinance eliminating the requirement that police officers and firefighters provide receipts in order to collect their annual uniform allowance. If the council wants to ensure the money is well spent, it should reject this ordinance.
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That weight problem hasn’t gone away
A report issued this week predicts that more than 40 percent of us will be obese by 2030. The way to tackle this problem is for every one of us to take ownership of it and take steps to address it.
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