Local officials continue to sound alarm bells over storm water permit

January 20, 2015

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HARTFORD, Conn. – Municipal leaders are seeking further concessions from the state environmental protection agency on new regulations forcing towns to reduce pollution through storm water runoff.

Last month, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection responded to budgetary complaints by the municipal lobby group the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and signalled it would scale back new requirements designed to reduce the pollutants that run off the state’s roadways.

The agency indicated it was revising provisions in a permit application which would have required towns to sweep streets more often, clean catch basins, manage fallen leaves, and keep tabs on the water quality of storm water discharge. DEEP has not yet released specific language for these requirements.

See the full story at CT News Junkie.

Comments

One response to “Local officials continue to sound alarm bells over storm water permit”

Oldtimer

January 20, 2015

The state is trying to set standards to comply with the federal clean water act. This will eventually happen, but maybe not all at once. Both the state and the federal government put a lot of money into getting Sanitary waste water treatment plants up graded to comply with the clean water act and there is no reason to believe a similar level of help will not be available in further compliance actions. The municipalities are quick to complain about unfunded mandates that only require them to do what they should have been doing already. Sweeping streets and keeping catch basins clean enough that they actually work is pretty simple and the commitment was made a long time ago to require catch basins. Now the state has figured out some municipalities will not maintain them without a push from the state. It is sad but true that some municipalities, in an effort to save, have made misguided decisions on the importance of maintaining catch basins. These same municipalities are the loudest to complain about the cost, rather than admit they have been cheating on their responsibilities for a long time. Most have bought the necessary equipment, but hesitate to fully utilize it, and overstate the costs involved.

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