Four major discharges of partially treated stormwater and wastewater into Lake Champlain this summer led the city to fast-track proposed fixes. The City Council will vote Monday on whether to put a $30 million bond before voters in November.
The plan calls for investments to improve wastewater treatment plants, pump stations, stormwater outfalls and sewer and stormwater pipes. If approved by voters, the work on the upgrades will begin this winter.
“By acting decisively now, we can take a huge step forward in a centuries-long effort to create a thriving, dynamic city that is in balance with our spectacular natural setting,” Weinberger said at a Thursday press conference introducing the plan, held next to the city’s main wastewater treatment plant, located near the lake.
The plan lays out upgrades to the city’s three wastewater treatment plants — the first in 24 years. Some of this summer’s releases were caused by failures to the plants’ aging disinfection systems. Funding from the bond will also go toward repairs at 11 highest-risk sewage pump stations in the city’s low-lying areas and upgrading 13 miles of sewer and stormwater pipes.
The capital upgrades in the proposed bond are part of an ongoing effort by Burlington leaders to find cost-effective ways to address all of the city’s legal obligations to clean up the water it sends into Lake Champlain. Burlington, like many other older cities around New England and the Midwest, has a combined sewer system, which treats both wastewater and stormwater. During periods of heavy rain, the city’s wastewater treatment plants cannot handle the sudden influx of stormwater, and relief valves open up, sending untreated wastewater and stormwater directly into streams and the lake. Those releases, or “combined sewer overflows,” are 95 percent stormwater.
In 2012, the city received funding from the EPA to develop an integrated water quality plan to address combined sewer overflows, treat stormwater runoff and tackle other water quality problems. Burlington also has a separate stormwater utility that collects fees from property owners to fund stormwater treatment efforts.
The plan also includes launching a pollution prevention program targeted at the city’s growing beverage and food industries, which have caused an increase in the strength of wastewater, leading to disruptions in the treatment process. Funding from the bond will also go toward finishing the integrated water quality plan and installing green infrastructure, like rain gardens, to treat stormwater runoff.
Weinberger stressed that he worked with the Department of Public Works to limit the burden on taxpayers. The city is estimating that after five years, taxpayers will see a 12.2 percent increase in their wastewater bills and 16.7 percent increase in their stormwater bills, which will be just over $5 a month for the average Burlington family.
Kurt Wright, City Council president, said that the plan had strong support on the City Council and predicted it would pass with a wide margin when voters consider it in November.
“Of all the issues in Burlington that people disagree about, I think this is a plan that people overwhelmingly are going to support,” he said.
The upgrades were originally scheduled to go to the City Council in December and be voted on at Town Meeting Day. But this summer’s releases led the city to accelerate the planning process.
City Councilor Joan Shannon said she had talked to residents who were “aghast” by the recent system failures that have lead to pollution of the lake.
“These failures are not the personal failures of today’s keepers of the system, rather, the result of a longtime lack of investment that we need to address today,” she said.
The city anticipates “significant additional investments” in four to five years to fund the work laid out in the integrated water quality plan.
