Kansas City Facing Large Sewer and Stormwater Upgrades

Kansas City Facing Large Sewer and Stormwater Upgrades



Feb, 2008  - A new Kansas City 
government task force began meeting this month to determine exactly how 
the city is going to cover the $3.6 billion cost of an urgently needed new 
sewer and stormwater system. 
Over the next six months, the task force, appointed by Mayor Mark 
Funkhouser, must determine how much to increase taxes and fees and whether 
to use bonds or other funding methods to pay for the largest public works 
project in city history. 
Councilwoman Jan Marcason, chairwoman of the Water Services Utility 
Funding Task Force, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has 
threatened a lawsuit because the city has not written a plan to handle the 
sewer overflow problem. 
"This impacts every City Council district," said Marcason, telling task 
force members to work quickly on their recommendations to the City 
Council. 
The city must submit its final plan to federal and state regulatory 
agencies in July 2008. 
The sewer overflow problem is one of Kansas City's most complex and 
potentially expensive infrastructure problems in its history. 
Sewer overflows are problems that impact the entire city because overflows 
can contribute to property damage and health concerns and both the 
combined and separate sewer systems overflow. 
State and federal regulations require the city to develop a plan and 
implement controls to eliminate overflows from the separated sewer system 
and to eliminate, relocate or control overflows from the combined sewer 
system. 
Much of the combined sewer system is over 100 years old in this city 
located at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers. The Main 
Street sewer, the city's first, was started in 1855, interrupted for the 
Civil War, and completed in 1871. 
Although the combined system was designed to overflow, Combined Sewer 
Overflows are currently regulated. 
The Wet Weather Solutions Program could cost the community billions of 
dollars over the next 20 years, according to the Water Services 
Department. 
"Not only will this program impact you and your neighbors financially," 
the department warns residents in a statement on its website, "the 
improvements under development may also disrupt neighborhoods during 
construction and have on-going impacts on neighborhoods." 

The Water Services Department provided the task force with a list of 
possible financial solutions to raise revenue for the project. They could 
raise utility fees, raise the existing sales tax to implement stormwater 
improvements, or wait for a sales tax used for other needs to become 
available. 
Or the city could seek a new sales tax only for water services, an option 
that would require approval by the state, then Kansas City and Missouri 
voters. 
Property taxes could be raised, an unpopular option or bonds could be 
floated. 
Or the city could hope for new funding to become available from federal or 
state governments. Congress is considering several bills on funding water 
resources, including a Clean Water Trust Fund. In addition, Missouri has a 
State Revolving Fund Loan Program that could become a fundi 
The next meeting of the Water Services Utility Funding Task Force will be 
from 4 to 6 pm February 6 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage 
Center. 
Three public hearings are scheduled for March 5, March 12 and April 2. The 
times and locations are yet to be announced. 
The Water Services Department's Conceptual Control Plan was developed with 
the guidance of an informed group of community stakeholders. 
A watershed approach, green solutions, stormwater Best Management 
Practices, and conventional source reduction techniques will all play 
significant and early roles in a structured adaptive program, the 
department states. 
A Watershed Management Plan for the entire Blue River basin addressing 
pollutants in stormwater runoff will be coupled with combined sewer 
overflow control to support recreational uses and attainable water quality 
standards. 
The department says "25 years or more will be needed to complete 
implementation of the Control Plan, allowing the benefits of Green 
Solutions in reducing the cost of conventional structural solutions to be 
maximized." 
To view the Water Services Department's Conceptual Plan for controlling 
overflow during wet weather events, click here. 

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