Wastewater systems’ damage assessed
As the beleaguered Gulf Coast readies for another active hurricane season, a new report reveals how local utilities are struggling to find the estimated $1.4 billion to repair and rebuild wastewater systems destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina last year. Released in April, “Assessment of Reconstruction Costs and Debt Management for Wastewater Utilities Affected by Hurricane Katrina” found that most of the damage to wastewater utilities came from a 15- to 25-foot storm surge that hit Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, forcing 445,000 residents from their homes. Published by the Alexandria, Va.-based Water Environment Federation (WEF) and Los Angeles-based consulting firm Black & Veatch, the report also reveals how utilities must cope with $163 million in lost revenue resulting from displaced residents while trying to avoid default on long-term debt obligations. “Water and wastewater services are fundamental to recovery, and users basically finance the ongoing operations of these facilities,” says Bill Bertera, WEF’s executive director. “In the long-term, revenue loss may be the most difficult part of the clean-up and return to normalcy.”
For residents, recovery is a slow and painstaking process. “In Louisiana, some of the plants are deemed functional, but the rest of the infrastructure is not in place and people just can’t live there,” says Chris Piehler, clean waters project director for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. “As they attempt to bring their sewerage infrastructure back online they are discovering more damages, and that’s a pattern I expect to see throughout the most heavily damaged areas.”
Federal government and state agencies previously lacked comprehensive data on the conditions of the systems as well as the utilities’ financial positions. Databases provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies were used in the study, revealing that 118 wastewater utilities serving approximately 1.8 million people were affected by the storm. A sample group of 25 utilities also was assessed for infrastructure damage. Field investigators visited 19 facilities and telephone surveyors polled an additional six. Results were categorized by damage zone — surge, flood or winds greater than 100 miles per hour — and treatment plant type, and were used to develop average costs, applied to each utility based on damage zone location.
Presented to Congress, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the final report also includes several recommendations for federal and state agencies to consider in responding to the utilities’ immediate and long-term financial needs. They include expanding the EPA’s role in managing the response to wastewater disasters, helping municipalities find federal funding for recovery, training wastewater personnel for emergencies, promoting mutual aid compacts among systems in neighboring states and providing financial restructuring to help utilities avoid default. “Water and wastewater are the most capital intensive of all utilities,” says Eileen O’Neill, WEF’s chief technical officer. “Utilities in areas subject to long-term population reductions will likely need financial subsidies beyond currently available grants and loans if they are to maintain their services.”
Lori Burkhammer is WEF’s public information director.
