To Stem Wastewater Overflows, MSD Pitches $1.58B Proposal to Ratepayers
Date Posted: May 24, 2019
Posted In: Discussion,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: When the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District was formed in the 1950s, it inherited what ranks as the country’s fourth-largest network of wastewater infrastructure — a sprawling system that, utility officials explain, was not built to satisfy modern guidelines for sewage overflows or other environmental safeguards.
The gap, they say, has only widened with time.
About a decade ago, the prevalence of sewer overflow problems — both locally and around the country — pushed the federal government to arrange a 2011 settlement with MSD, requiring the utility to spend at least $4.7 billion over the next 23 years to address the issue, along with making other system improvements.
MSD now seeks to nail down a sizable chunk of that requirement, with its eyes on raising $1.58 billion in proposed capital improvement funding spread over four years — a request that would alter wastewater rates for customers across St. Louis and St. Louis County.
Through more than 300 total projects, the funding looks to reduce or eliminate overflows and backups, build 60 miles of new wastewater sewers, and inspect 64,000 manhole covers. The proposal also includes plans to replace incinerators at two MSD treatment plants, while working to close its Fenton plant by tunneling instead to another facility.
Rate changes tied to the proposal would apply to the four-year period from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2024.
The plan presents MSD ratepayers with two options, centered around whether to fund the projects with or without $500 million in additional bond financing, which the utility says would “make needed rate increases more manageable.”