Connecticut's Clean Water Fund Fight
The fight in Hartford to increase the amount of money in Connecticut’s Clean Water Fund has finally gotten some attention. WTNH just moved this AP story:
A coalition of municipal officials, environmentalists, business and labor groups say the state is not spending enough on upgrading local sewage treatment systems that spill into Long Island Sound and state rivers.
They say the Clean Water Fund, created in 1987, used to provide about $40 to $50 million for projects each year. This year, that amount is dropping to $20 million.
They want lawmakers to set aside $70 million this year.
Curt Johnson, from the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, says the cuts in funding come as the state is halfway toward eliminating the raw sewage being dumped in rivers, lakes and Long Island Sound.
He says if the state continues to spend only $20 million a year, it could take over a century to get the waterways back to being safe for swimming.
Curt of course did not say the state is halfway toward eliminating raw sewage – most raw sewage dumping was eliminated decades ago. But Connecticut is about halfway toward its goal of reducing the amount of nitrogen that reaches the Sound, and it needs to put money in the Clean Water Fund to keep on track. Note, by the way, that the story gives us no idea of when any of this happened or was said.
A coalition of municipal officials, environmentalists, business and labor groups say the state is not spending enough on upgrading local sewage treatment systems that spill into Long Island Sound and state rivers.
They say the Clean Water Fund, created in 1987, used to provide about $40 to $50 million for projects each year. This year, that amount is dropping to $20 million.
They want lawmakers to set aside $70 million this year.
Curt Johnson, from the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, says the cuts in funding come as the state is halfway toward eliminating the raw sewage being dumped in rivers, lakes and Long Island Sound.
He says if the state continues to spend only $20 million a year, it could take over a century to get the waterways back to being safe for swimming.
Curt of course did not say the state is halfway toward eliminating raw sewage – most raw sewage dumping was eliminated decades ago. But Connecticut is about halfway toward its goal of reducing the amount of nitrogen that reaches the Sound, and it needs to put money in the Clean Water Fund to keep on track. Note, by the way, that the story gives us no idea of when any of this happened or was said.
posted by Tom Andersen at 2:20 PM
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