IDEM and Water Pollution Control Board Schedules 5 Hearings on Citizen Rulemaking Petition on "No Net Increase in Sewage Overflows" Policy

On September 12, 2001, the Water Pollution Control Board unanimously accepted the citizen's petition for hearing.  Taking the next step, Dave Wagner on the Water Pollution Control Board with IDEM's support has scheduled five public hearings on the citizen's petition requesting that the Board adopt a "No Net Increase in Sewage Overflows" policy when evaluating construction permits impacting combined sewer systems. Special thanks to the Dave and the Board for their extraordinary effort to provide citizens with a chance to participate. Once the Board accepted the petition, it was only obliged to hold one hearing. The Board is holding five. There is not formal process to take written comments, but I am sure Dave will accept them.

Please try to attend the meeting in your community. The developers appear to find the proposal to be extremely threatening to their success and will probably be out in full force. The 105 CSO cities have mixed feelings about the policy as they try to balance their political leadership's desire for growth with the struggles of managing combined sewer overflows. Several have expressed quiet support recognizing that the policy would force the developers to support progressive solutions to the CSO problem.

If you are concerned about sewage in our streams, please show your support.

The hearings are scheduled as follows.

-     Wednesday, November 7, 2001, at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., local time, at the Porter County Administrative Building, 155 Indiana Ave., Suite 205, Valparaiso, Indiana;

-     Thursday, November 8, 2001, at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., local time, at City Hall Council Chambers, 210 E. Ninth St., Auburn, Indiana;

-     Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., local time, at Ivy Tech, North Meridian Center, One 26th St., Room 419B, Indianapolis, Indiana;

-     Wednesday, November 14, 2001, at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., local time, at the Civil Center Administrative Building, Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Room 307, Evansville, Indiana; and

-     Thursday, November 15, 2001, at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., local time, at the City County Building, County Commissioner Meeting Room #308, 501 E. Court Ave., Jeffersonville, Indiana.

IDEM has posted the petition and the draft language on its website. Please keep in mind that we are asking the state to begin the rulemaking process. That process takes a year or more to complete. A couple of thoughts about your comments:

1.     Focus comments on the "no net increase in sewage overflows" policy itself. The exact language to capture the policy will be developed and refined through the rulemaking process. As proposed in the petition, the language can be read much narrower than intended. If you have better language suggest that.

2.    Developers claim that the petition would force them to install expensive storage tank systems. That is only one option which they could choose. A better way is to find offsets for the new flow through sewer separation or by retaining the onrush of flow by capturing stormwater for later treatment. Even if storage is the chosen option, their estimated costs reflect a much more costly storage option than CSO communities are using to store the first sewage flush. This flush is not that must easier to store than raw sewage.

For more information on the petition.