Small cities to plan for storm runoff

From the time they're notified, the local governments have six months to comply.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Homeowners in small Ohio cities, including Salem, are likely to see water and sewer bills go up to pay for treating the motor oil and other pollutants that wash from their driveways and flow toward streams.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has recently told 36 cities that it's their turn to meet federal mandates to apply for a pollution discharge permit and submit a plan for handling runoff from rainstorms. Large and medium cities went through the changes in the past decade.
Local governments, which have about six months to comply after receiving notice from the state, are trying to squeeze their budgets, and some say they have no choice but to raise user fees.
"If people are faced with the same information we are, they'd come up with the same conclusions," said Louis McFarland, public service director in Circleville in central Ohio. "This will end up as a standalone utility."
The Pickaway County city already spends 100,000 yearly on improvements to its system and hasn't yet calculated how much it will cost to comply with the mandate.
Ohio's larger cities started charging fees that top 4 monthly as they began complying with the state and federal orders, part of the Clean Water Act.
Local governments are required to regulate storm water to make sure the pollutants that collect on driveways, roads and parking lots are treated before the water returns to streams and possibly contaminates drinking water sources. The plans require public education about preventing water pollution and require the cities to plan how to detect and eliminate the runoff. Costs include extra employees and construction of sewer systems.
Time requirements
Akron, Dayton, Toledo and Columbus were the first of Ohio's big cities to comply with the first phase of the regulations, starting in 1992. Smaller cities, with populations of 10,000 to 100,000, started seeking their permits in 2003, and programs must be completed by 2008.
In Delaware, officials are hoping that revenue from an existing 2.50 fee will cover the improvements, spokesman Lee Yoakum said.
However, Marysville will consider raising its 2.75 monthly fee, which it has collected since 2004. The 489,000 fee raised last year probably isn't enough, said Public Service Director Tracie Davies.
Lancaster collected 1.8 million from a 4.64 monthly fee instituted in 2004, because officials thought their deadline to comply would be earlier. The city got complaints when the first bills with the new fee went out, storm water coordinator Denise Crews said, but the money enabled the city to fix several problems with the sewer and culverts in 2005.