Senator urges greater sewer infrastructure

With President Obama set to unveil his annual budget plan next month, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has called on the Office of Management and Budget to increase funding for water and sewer infrastructure — including Nassau County facilities — in the president’s 2013 spending plan.

In a letter to OMB Director Jack Lew dated Jan. 19, Gillibrand called for the allocation of at least $2.1 billion for the federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund and $1.4 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. She emphasized that investing in New York’s water and sewage facilities, including wastewater treatment infrastructure upgrades for those on the Long Island Sound and treatment plants across Nassau County, would ensure safe drinking water and safeguard public health.

“Our nation’s water infrastructure is crumbling, and in many locations, including in my state of New York, residents rely on infrastructure that is over a century old,” Gillibrand wrote. “Communities are struggling with the prospect of repairing, replacing and upgrading their aging infrastructure during this difficult fiscal climate.”

According to Gillibrand, both programs were “severely underfunded” in the 2012 budget, receiving only $1.47 billion and $919.4 million, respectively. She said that federal funding is necessary in order to maintain effective water and sewage facilities, which are vital in the effort to provide safe drinking water, treat sewage to meet wastewater standards and reduce health risks.

Additional money for both funds, Gillibrand said, would allow Long Island, as well as communities across New York and the nation, to invest in the construction, repair and expansion of rural water and wastewater infrastructure.

“In New York alone, the cost is projected to be nearly $70 billion over the next 20 years,” she wrote. “Nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency projects that the cost will be over $520 billion. … Deteriorating water infrastructure creates a public health hazard as water quality is reduced and ecosystems, such as Long Island Sound, are degraded.”

Many, including Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford (R-Long Beach), lauded Gillibrand’s call for additional federal funding. In October, Ford, along with County Legislator Howard Kopel (R- Lawrence) and County Executive Edward Mangano, announced the creation of a new system to notify residents via email about incidents that result in wastewater spills in waterways near the Bay Park, Cedar Creek or Glen Cove sewage-treatment plants, all of which, Gillibrand said, need to be upgraded.

“It’s important for us to get federal funding,” she said. “Locally, we can’t sustain a lot of major changes we need. I’d like to see these plants upgraded.”

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy organization Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said it was critical for the federal government to fund municipalities’ efforts to upgrade sewage treatment plants, especially across Long Island. “It’s about protecting public health and water quality,” Esposito said. “The need for the money is critical to quality of life.”

In her letter, Gillibrand also noted that investment in water and sewer infrastructure benefits the economy by creating jobs. “According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, every $1 million invested in water and wastewater infrastructure directly creates 8.7 jobs, and each of these jobs leads to an additional 3.68 jobs elsewhere in the economy,” she wrote. “Federal investment in this infrastructure is crucial to stimulating economic growth …”

Esposito said that job creation is vital, and that securing additional funding would be a major step forward for Long Island. Otherwise, she said, conditions at treatment plants, as well as waterways across the South Shore, will continue to grow worse.

“We will continue to see our bays decline,” Esposito said. “More beaches will close; there will be more illness. We will see negative impacts associated with these aging sewage-treatment plants.”

Meg Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget, said that the department would not comment on Gillibrand’s letter until after Obama presents his budget plan. The letter, Reilly said, has not yet been reviewed by Lew.