Sherrod Brown promotes bill to help cities upgrade sewer systems

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, promoted the Clean Water Affordability Act he plans to introduce this week, saying it would help cities upgrade their sewer systems, improve water quality and keep sewer-user rates affordable.

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.

“Some 70 communities in Ohio are struggling to afford very extensive, but also vital, renovations to outdated sewer systems,” the senator said during a Wednesday media teleconference in Washington, D.C., referring to communities with combined storm and sanitary-sewer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.

Brown said the delay in introducing the bill stems from his desire to hear comments on the issue, update and refine the bill’s language and build support among his fellow senators.

The bill would authorize $1.8 billion for grants over five years to help economically troubled municipalities.

Read more about the program in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.