[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 30, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E55-E56]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               NEW BEDFORD MAKES PROGRESS ON CLEAN WATER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 30, 2001

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, we often hear tales of woe 
from local officials and it is important that we remain cognizant of 
these, so that we can act to correct policy mistakes and other 
circumstances that cause undue stress to the people who have the 
important job of administering our municipalities. But it is also 
important to note when as a result of cooperation among the various 
offices of government, we get something right. I was pleased to receive 
from the Mayor of New Bedford, MA, Fred Kalisz, an interesting 
discussion of how cooperation at all three levels has resulted in a 
policy involving the cleaning of New Bedford Harbor which has had 
beneficial environmental and economic effects, without having an 
excessively harsh financial impact on the citizens of that area. I 
submit the following instructive discussion from Mayor Kalisz into the 
Congressional Record.

          [From the City of New Bedford, Office of the Mayor]

    The City of New Bedford Wastewater Improvements Funding History

       The City of New Bedford is an old coastal community located 
     on the South Coast of Massachusetts, approximately 50 miles 
     south of Boston. Considered by many as the gateway to Cap 
     Cod, Marth's Vineyard and the Islands.
       New Bedford's colorful history is intimately tied to the 
     sea. As one of three deep-water ports in the State of 
     Massachusetts, and home to the second largest fishing fleet 
     in the country, New Bedford's history, past and future is 
     tied to the sea and the stewardship of its resources.
       The City occupies a land area of 19 square miles and has a 
     mean elevation of 50 feet above sea level. Established in 
     1787, New Bedford was incorporated as a City in 1847.
       The New Bedford wastewater collection system was originally 
     constructed in the middle 1800's as a system of sewers that 
     discharged wastewater directly into the City's inner harbor 
     and Clark's Cove. Between 1910 and 1920, the City expanded 
     the system by adding a main interceptor, conveying wastewater 
     through a now abandoned screen house, into an outfall, 
     discharging into Buzzards Bay.
       In 1972, the City added a primary treatment facility 
     located on Fort Rodman, at the southern most tip of New 
     Bedford, to provide primary treatment to the outfall 
     discharged to the Bay. In 1986, the U.S. Environmental 
     Protection Agency (the ``EPA'') and the Commonwealth of 
     Massachusetts issued joint permits to the City requiring 
     immediate compliance with the secondary wastewater treatment 
     requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act of 1972 (the 
     ``CWA'') and the Massachusetts Clean Water Act (the 
     ``Massachusetts Act'').
       In 1987, the City entered into a Consent Decree and began 
     implementation of a Capitol Improvement Program (CIP designed 
     to comply with regulatory mandates of the CWA and the 
     Massachusetts Act. Capitol improvement costs identified by 
     the Decree totaled nearly $225 million and were projected to 
     increase typical household sewer bills from less than $70 per 
     year to over $1000 per household. This court action put the 
     City on schedule to improve its collection and treatment 
     systems through the planning, design, and construction of 
     approved collection and treatment facilities.
       The cost of complying with the mandates of the Consent 
     Order represented a major economic and financial burden for 
     the City and its citizens. The City entered into
       In total, the City of New Bedford completed twelve major 
     wastewater related infrastructure projects totaling 177 
     million dollars, to comply with Federal and State clean water 
     mandates ending decades of deferred maintenance and 
     environmental neglect. Today, New Bedford boasts its heritage 
     of the sea with renewed commitment to the stewardship of its 
     resource.
       Thousands of acres of shellfish beds, closed for decades, 
     are now open, creating jobs and providing tangible evidence 
     to the success of a community committed to environmental 
     progress.
       However, these efforts came at great cost for resident 
     shard pressed to afford the resources necessary to end these 
     decades of neglect. To a community that experienced double 
     digit unemployment, and a blue-collar workforce with a median 
     family income of less than $28,000 per year, New Bedford 
     initiated and raised sewer fees in a depressed economy to 
     support this Herculean effort.
       The community viewed original rate projections in the 
     initial phases of the projects timetable with despair. They 
     could ill afford the enormous expense of the commitment 
     before them, help was needed, and New Bedford could not do it 
     alone.
       In July of 1988, the City of New Bedford established and 
     adopted the first sewer fee in

[[Page E56]]

     the municipalities' history, equal to 34 cents per thousand 
     gallons of water discharged into the sewer system. By January 
     1994 this rate had increased to $3.55 for the same thousand 
     gallons, a 1000% increase. Based on project engineering 
     estimates and financial considerations, rates were expected 
     to approach $6.00 per thousand gallons by the year 1999.
       The Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust (The 
     Trust) was established in March 1993. Utilizing Federal grant 
     money, the Trust established a State Revolving Fund that 
     provided zero interest loans for sewer related infrastructure 
     improvements for municipalities faced with mandates to meet 
     environmental regulations.
       This form of Federal and State support of capital 
     improvement project has become a critical component for 
     municipalities to move progressively forward in achieving 
     environmental goals.
       In the case of the City of New Bedford, this support has 
     enabled the community to complete every project outlined in 
     their facilities plan to provide infrastructure capabilities 
     for industrial, commercial and residential growth, while 
     meeting clean water mandates and environmental commitments.
       As a result of our efforts, New Bedford is the first 
     community to take advantage of extending State Revolving Fund 
     debt and amortizing these commitments out over 30 years. Thus 
     extending the term of the SRF debt to reflect the useful life 
     of the financed projects again minimizing impacts to rates. A 
     community that once faced sewer fees that were unaffordable 
     has completed the largest sewer related capitol improvement 
     program in its history, without breaking the back of the 
     ratepayers.
       This is testament to Federal, State and Local governments 
     forming partnerships to solve problems.

     

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