BCT Editorial – 8/24/06

This page was last updated on August 24, 2006.

Get used to it; Editorial; Beaver County Times; August 24, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Because of federal mandates, sewage fees will go up dramatically

“Rochester residents were jolted this month by a jump in their sewage fees, with a new ‘sewer rental fee’ being attached to their bills from the Beaver Falls Municipal Authority.

“It’s a significant increase. The fee, adopted by Rochester Council several months ago, sets rates at $10 a month, or $30 a quarter, for residential customers, and $20, or $60 a quarter, for commercial users. Customers pay an additional $2 per 1,000 gallons of water used after the first 5,000 gallons.

“What Rochester residents must understand is that they aren’t the first and they won’t be the last to see increases such as this one. That’s because sewer authorities across the region are under a federal mandate to upgrade their systems to conform to clean-water standards.

“They also must understand that local elected and appointed officials had no choice in the matter. It was either do what the law said or face serious consequences.

“Also, don’t blame the Beaver Falls authority. It is acting as the billing agent (receiving $1.25 per customer) for the recently created Rochester Sewer Maintenance Authority.

“The problem these sewer systems must deal with is the dumping of raw sewage into area streams and rivers when heavy rains overload their treatment plants.

“Under the consent order, Rochester must map and sufficiently monitor its aging sewer system, and develop a system to determine sewage flows and put designs into place for new facilities.

“Alcosan, which serves 83 communities in Allegheny County, is under a similar order. It is going to spend $3 billion to upgrade its sewage system.

“The state and federal governments are in various stages of addressing the funding needed to make these improvements, but there is no way to know when this financial help will arrive, or if it will come at all.

“For now, local residents are going to foot the bill. The best advice we can give them is to get used to it because there is nothing they or their local officials can do about it.”

[RWC] Maybe it’s just me, but the editorial seems to convey the message that users of local sewer systems are somehow taking it on the chin for “federal mandates.”

In essence, the editorial appears to believe commonwealth and federal taxpayers should help sewer system users pay to clean up the pollution generated by us locals. What a crock! If we’re polluting our watershed, we should be the ones to pay to clean it up, not someone in State College or Anchorage.