Kansas City Faces $3.6 Billion Sewer, Stormwater Upgrade

Over the next six months, the task force, appointed by Mayor Mark Funkhouser, must determine how much to increase taxes and fees and whether to use bonds or other funding methods to pay for the largest public works project in city history.

Councilwoman Jan Marcason, chairwoman of the Water Services Utility Funding Task Force, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has threatened a lawsuit because the city has not written a plan to handle the sewer overflow problem.

"This impacts every City Council district," said Marcason, telling task force members to work quickly on their recommendations to the City Council.

The city must submit its final plan to federal and state regulatory agencies in July 2008.

The sewer overflow problem is one of Kansas City's most complex and potentially expensive infrastructure problems in its history.

Sewer overflows are problems that impact the entire city because overflows can contribute to property damage and health concerns and both the combined and separate sewer systems overflow.

State and federal regulations require the city to develop a plan and implement controls to eliminate overflows from the separated sewer system and to eliminate, relocate or control overflows from the combined sewer system.

Much of the combined sewer system is over 100 years old in this city located at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. The Main Street sewer, the city's first, was started in 1855, interrupted for the Civil War, and completed in 1871.

Although the combined system was designed to overflow, Combined Sewer Overflows are currently regulated.

The Wet Weather Solutions Program could cost the community billions of dollars over the next 20 years, according to the Water Services Department.

"Not only will this program impact you and your neighbors financially," the department warns residents in a statement on its website, "the improvements under development may also disrupt neighborhoods during construction and have on-going impacts on neighborhoods."

The Missouri River runs through Kansas City. (Photo courtesy Missouri DOT)

The Water Services Department provided the task force with a list of possible financial solutions to raise revenue for the project. They could raise utility fees, raise the existing sales tax to implement stormwater improvements, or wait for a sales tax used for other needs to become available.

Or the city could seek a new sales tax only for water services, an option that would require approval by the state, then Kansas City and Missouri voters.

Property taxes could be raised, an unpopular option or bonds could be floated.

Or the city could hope for new funding to become available from federal or state governments. Congress is considering several bills on funding water resources, including a Clean Water Trust Fund. In addition, Missouri has a State Revolving Fund Loan Program that could become a fundi

The next meeting of the Water Services Utility Funding Task Force will be from 4 to 6 pm February 6 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center.

Three public hearings are scheduled for March 5, March 12 and April 2. The times and locations are yet to be announced.

The Water Services Department's Conceptual Control Plan was developed with the guidance of an informed group of community stakeholders.

A watershed approach, green solutions, stormwater Best Management Practices, and conventional source reduction techniques will all play significant and early roles in a structured adaptive program, the department states.

A Watershed Management Plan for the entire Blue River basin addressing pollutants in stormwater runoff will be coupled with combined sewer overflow control to support recreational uses and attainable water quality standards.

The department says "25 years or more will be needed to complete implementation of the Control Plan, allowing the benefits of Green Solutions in reducing the cost of conventional structural solutions to be maximized."

To view the Water Services Department's Conceptual Plan for controlling overflow during wet weather events, click here.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.