User fee for water aims to clean up lakes, rivers

Mark Brunswick,  Star Tribune

February 10, 2005 WATERS

0210

Each home in Minnesota would be charged an additional $36 a year for the water it uses and businesses would be charged an additional $120 to $600 a year under a proposal to generate $80 million a year to clean up the state's polluted lakes and rivers.

A coalition of business, agriculture, local government, and environmental groups on Wednesday proposed the Clean Water Legacy Bill, which will use the money generated by user fees to accelerate testing of Minnesota waters and to clean up the state's most contaminated rivers and lakes.

Only 8 percent of river miles and 14 percent of the state's lakes have been tested for pollution, and 40 percent of those are contaminated. About 85 percent of the money generated will go to clean up the state's most polluted waters. The bill, recently introduced into the Legislature, also would provide money for pollution prevention programs.

"Clean water is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It's a Minnesota value," said Rep. Dennis Ozment, R-Rosemount, the chief author of the bill in the House.

Under provisions of the bill, the fees eventually will generate about $85 million a year when fully implemented in fiscal year 2009. The money will be used to monitor and assess the state's waterways and to initiate land and water treatment programs, often through leveraging other state, federal, local and private funds.

The coalition came together under the threat that cities, manufacturing plants, small businesses and food processing facilities would not be allowed to expand unless contaminated waters near them are cleaned up.

The federal Clean Water Act requires states to assess their lakes and streams, and to list as "impaired" those that contain too much mercury, fertilizers, phosphorus, human and animal waste, or other contaminants. Once a body of water is listed as impaired, development that would increase its pollution, including larger discharges from wastewater treatment plants, would not be allowed.

Under the proposal:

• Each residential dwelling that receives a bill for discharging into a sanitary sewer system or with a septic system will be charged an additional $36 per year. "Hardship exemptions" will be made for those who can't afford to pay the additional expenses.

• Businesses will be charged from $120 per year to $600 a year, depending on how much water a day the business uses. Businesses will pay about 15 percent of the total revenue, based on state estimates that 15 percent of the pollution problem comes operations that have permits to discharge wastewater.

The bill has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and has been endorsed by the administration of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose Pollution Control Agency will administer much of the funding. Pawlenty has said that if the bill gets through the Legislature, he would sign it.

While Pawlenty has said he is opposed to any new tax increases, Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Sheryl Corrigan argued that the water charges reflect a philosophy of the user fee rather than that of a tax.

Mark Brunswick is at

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