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PA EPA PROJECTS CLEAN WATER TREATMENT NEEDS
Release Date: 09/26/97
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1997
EPA PROJECTS CLEAN WATER TREATMENT NEEDS
EPA told Congress this week that, over the next 20 years, municipalities in the United States will need nearly $140 billion to build, upgrade and maintain publicly owned sewage treatment plants, as well as to control storm water and other sources of polluted runoff. The l996 Clean Water Needs Survey Report to Congress is EPA’s detailed estimate of municipalities’ future capital costs under the Clean Water Act’s state revolving fund, which provides federal and state funding for such projects. Of the total amount estimated to be needed, $128 billion will be needed for traditional wastewater treatment works, including: $44 billion for wastewater treatment; over $10 billion for upgrading existing wastewater collections systems; nearly $22 billion for new sewer construction; and nearly $45 billion for controlling combined sewer overflows. To control municipal stormwater, an additional $7 billion will be needed and an additional $9 billion will be needed to control agricultural and silvicultural runoff. Federal, state and local sources provide funds to help meet these needs. Water conservation measures, including the use of water efficient and energy efficient plumbing fixtures, and the good operation and maintenance of collection systems and treatment plants will lower costs of capital improvements needed in the future. Nationally, the l996 survey shows that 72 percent of the total U. S. population, l90 million people, are now served by one of the over 16,000 publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities across the nation. The survey projects that 20 years from the l996 survey, in the year 2016, 90 percent of the projected population, or 275 million people, will be served by 18,000 facilities, assuming a population projection of 305 million. The l996 survey shows a continuing trend toward higher levels of wastewater treatment: in l996, nearly 28 percent of the wastewater treatment facilities, or 4,428 out of 16,024, provide greater than secondary treatment, the treatment level considered adequate to fully protect public health and the environment, compared with 24 percent in l992 and 22 percent in l988. The general public can call EPA’s Water Resource Center at 202-260-7786 for additional information and copies of the report.
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