Legislative Update

Mark Molloy, Esq., Cascade Strategies LLC

Eventful MWRA September Meeting: Approves Additional $100 Million in I/I Funding and Temporarily Waives Joining Fee

At its September 14 meeting, the MWRA Board of Directors voted to adopt the recommendation of the MWRA Advisory Board to fund another phase of its longstanding wastewater Infiltration/Inflow Local Financial Assistance Program aimed at helping communities improve their local sewer systems.

Infiltration/Inflow is extraneous water that enters all wastewater collection systems through a variety of sources. During wet weather conditions, this additional flow reduces capacity in the system, and can lead to sanitary sewer overflows. MWRA’s I/I Local Financial Assistance Program began in 1993 and is a critical component of the MWRA’s Regional I/I Reduction Plan. The amount available to each community is based upon each community’s share of the MWRA’s sewer charges.

With this vote, the MWRA Board of Directors has approved $861 million in grants and loans for MWRA sewer communities since the program’s inception in 1993. To date, $515 million has been distributed to fund over 600 local sewer projects. According to a press release issued by the MWRA Advisory Board, this additional $100 million marks the fourteenth phase of I/I Local Financial Assistance funding. Funds will be available as 75% grants and 25% interest-free loans paid back over 10 years. The program is extremely popular for MWRA’s member communities. Over 80% of eligible communities have used more than half of their available grant/loan funds, which sunset in 2030.

More than 600 projects have been completed across the MWRA sewer service area. To date, 80 miles of sewer lines have been replaced and 300 more miles have been lined, along with inspections and other repairs.

At the same meeting, the MWRA Board of Directors voted to adopt the recommendation of the MWRA Advisory Board to temporarily waive the entrance fee new communities pay to join the MWRA water system. Citing the challenges communities face – stressed river basins requiring water restrictions, rising concerns about PFAS, and constrained economic development – the vote of the MWRA Board of Directors removed one hurdle communities must clear to join the MWRA system.

While the majority of the Commonwealth remains under significant or critical drought status, the Quabbin Reservoir, which supplies the MWRA’s system, remains over 90% full placing it well within normal operating conditions for this time of year. According to the MWRA, even if the drought continued for several years, there would be adequate supply to fully meet the needs of MWRA’s existing water communities and, if needed, to augment the supplies of adjacent stressed communities. Given the selling of an additional five million gallons per day would reduce MWRA water communities’ assessments by over $205 million over 25 years, the MWRA Advisory Board voted in June to recommend that the MWRA Board of Directors approve a five-year waiver of the entrance fee, subject to certain conditions.

The MWRA admissions process includes a robust environmental review, pipes must be built to connect the nearby communities to the MWRA’s system, and in some cases modifications to the MWRA’s infrastructure must be made to meet the requested demand.

To review the presentation on these issues from the September MWRA meeting, please visit: https://www. mwra.com/monthly/bod/presentations/2022/p2022-0914.pdf. continued on page 9