UPDATE | Brown to introduce water bill originally touted in September

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, promoted the Clean Water Affordability Act he plans to introduce soon during a noon-hour media teleconference today.

It’s the same bill the senator promoted in a Mill Creek Park news conference last September as a measure that would help communities, such as Youngstown, renovate outdated sewer systems to improve water quality and keep sewer user rates affordable.

“Some 70 communities in Ohio are struggling to afford very extensive, but also vital, renovations to outdated sewer systems,” the senator said, referring to communities with combined storm and sanitary sewer overflows.

“Every time there are heavy rains, these systems are overwhelmed. Untreated waste and storm water are dumped straight into our rivers, creeks and lakes,” many of which are drinking water sources, he added.

Jennifer Donohue, communications director for Sen. Brown, said the delay in introducing the bill stems from Brown’s desire to refine the bill’s language and build support to improve its chances for passage.

The bill would authorize $1.8 billion for grants to help economically troubled municipalities with sewer system improvements, with the grants covering 75 percent of project costs, supplemented by a 25 percent local match.

Youngstown’s combined sewer overflows, which discharge a mixture of storm water and untreated sewage after heavy rains, were the primary cause of a massive fish kill in the park’s Lake Newport early last summer, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said.

The park lakes were closed for the remainder of last year, but they have reopened this year, with signs posted at boat launches warning boaters that E. coli bacteria levels may be high 24 to 96 hours after it rains.

Under an agreement with the U.S. and Ohio EPAs, Youngstown will spend $146 million over the next 17 years to upgrade its sewer system, including curtailment of CSOs that discharge into Mill Creek Park.