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Saturday, April 15, 2006
EPA denies sewer waiver; could cost city over $30m
By MICHAEL GOOT
Portsmouth Bureau Chief
mgoot@fosters.com
PORTSMOUTH - An Environmental Protection Agency decision to reject a
sewer waiver could wind up costing Portsmouth at $30 million, if not substantially more.
Higher sewer bills for residents are expected to result from the EPA
ruling announced earlier this week requiring the city to upgrade the Peirce Island
Wastewater Treatment Plant.
On Thursday, the EPA issued a letter to City Manager John Bohenko
indicating it is going to deny its request for a waiver from section 301(h) of the Clean
Water Act to continue operating its wastewater facility with only advanced primary
treatment. This is where solids are separated out from the waste stream and chlorine is
added. Instead, it wants the city to upgrade to secondary treatment which exposes the
wastewater to oxygen to reduce pathogens.
City officials had proposed extending its discharge pipe and making
other upgrades. However, the EPA rejected its request.
The plant has been operating under a 1985 National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permit with a waiver that allows advanced primary treatment. In a
letter to City Manager John Bohenko dated Thursday, Roger Janson, chief of the municipal
NPDES Permit Branch, said the new draft permit will include secondary treatment limits.
The letter says the EPA "does expect to continue to work closely with
you and your staff throughout this process, particularly as it pertains to matters of
scheduling the planning, design and construction of the facilities necessary to achieve
compliance with the effluent limitations and conditions that will be proposed in the
draft permit and, ultimately, those that are imposed through final permit issuance."
Janson said Friday after reassessing the situation, the EPA agreed with
the Conservation Law Foundation's assertion that the law did not allow the city to escape
secondary treatment provisions because of the health of the Piscataqua River.
"They discharge into a water body that's impaired," he said.
Janson said the EPA is working on the draft permit right now and he
would anticipate by the end of spring or early summer there would be a public hearing.
Deputy Public Works Director David Allen, who is in charge of the city's
Water and Sewer Division, said he believes the city had a reasonable case. He said the
city will be working with the EPA to set up a timetable for compliance.
"It's an issue that really needs to be looked at very thoroughly. We
prefer that we do it right, rather than quickly," he said.
Allen said the EPA did not "tip their hand" before issuing its decision
and did not give them the reasons why it changed course. He said it is difficult to
determine what the cost of these upgrades will be but a rough estimate is about $30
million.
One of the issues the city will have to decide is whether the plant
should stay at Peirce island, whether they should expand the secondary treatment plant at
Pease International Tradeport or look to another new site.
"Obviously, there's going to be a large cost," he said.
A sewer rate study recently conducted by Weston and Sampson Engineers
recommended the city gradually increase its rate, currently at $4.70 per 100 cubic feet
of sewer discharge to $7.39 in 2012 and $8.57 for customers that discharge more than 800
cubic feet. These calculations did not include any cost for a secondary treatment plant.
Allen said the first step is for the city to redo its "201 Facilities
Plan," which is basically its sewer master plan. The city had already included some money
into its capital plan for this work.
Mayor Steve Marchand also said it is very early in the process and the
city has to be very deliberate.
"It's our intention to work in full cooperation with the EPA and other
relevant parties to make sure we come up with a plan that is both fiscally and
environmentally responsible," he said. "I think the EPA appreciates that while we're very
concerned about the environmental aspects, we want to do this in a way that's responsible
to our ratepayers. We want to do this in a way that's right, not just right now."
Bohenko said in a statement "the city is committed to working with the
EPA and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to develop a schedule that
is both environmentally and economically sound to implement secondary treatment."
He added that Portsmouth officials knew eventually they would have to go
secondary treatment. They would have preferred the city complete its ongoing project to
separate combined sewer overflow pipes. Because the city has older infrastructure, storm
water and sewage flow through some of the same pipes. During heavy storms, the system can
overflow. The city has been gradually separating these combined sewer overflows or CSOs.
The city has to look at all of its options including whether they should
expand and divert some of the flow to Pease.
"We want to make sure we're sensitive to the issues on Peirce Island,
the recreational issues, the historical issues. We want to do it the right way. I think
it's going to be important to get it done right and not get it done quickly," she said.
The Conservation Law Foundation had lobbied for the EPA to deny the
permit and force the city to do secondary treatment. It had indicated it would file a
lawsuit if the waiver was granted.
"We believe it's clearly the right decision. It's a decision that's
necessary to give the Piscataqua River and the Great Bay estuary the protections they
needed," he said.
The environmental organization had said the Clean Water Action prohibits
the EPA from granting a waiver if the water body the treated sewage is being dumped into
is stressed. The Piscataqua River is impaired because of bacteria and certain areas of it
do not support shellfishing or fish consumption.
Irwin added the Conservation Law Foundation will continue to be involved
with the public hearing process as it unfolds.
Peter Whelan, president of the Coastal Conservation Association, who had
made the wastewater treatment issue a key theme of his bid for City Council last fall,
said he believes the EPA was persuaded by the unanimous opposition of people to the
waiver at a hearing on the matter last May.
"It's a good day for everyone who uses the beaches, the rivers - the
fishermen, the lobstermen - that the city has to go to secondary treatment. It's going to
protect the whole Great Bay Estuary. My only hope is that the city moves quickly to
secondary treatment," he said.
He said the Peirce Island plant is only one of 16 operating in the
country without secondary or greater treatment.
