Assessing Wastewater Infrastructure Needs – Using Trends to Establish Priorities in Environmental Programs

The most common approach in the United States for dealing with wastewater is the centralized sewer. Environmental laws and public funding largely promote and support the construction, operation and maintenance of large wastewater treatment facilities. Contrast that with historic population declines in many small communities in rural areas of the Upper Midwest and other rural areas of the United States of America, a trend that continues. For example, according to figures provided by the U.S. Census Bureau the median population of communities in Nebraska was 342 in 2000 which declined to 318 by 2010.

Regulatory requirements and demands on wastewater treatment systems continue to increase. The blanket application of environmental regulations and resources to all communities, especially small communities with declining populations on limited incomes, can result in costly upgrades or new construction, and onerous sampling, record keeping and reporting requirements. There may be better ways of assessing needs and maintaining or obtaining regulatory compliance.

Some basic questions are worth asking:

• What is and what will be the overall or comparative watershed impact from
• these small sources (or how can resources best be applied to meet environmental goals and achieve compliance with regulatory requirements)?
• Are all wastewater treatment options or combinations considered equally, or do funding source limitations restrict these choices?
• Can a risk-based approach to wastewater treatment be developed that would
• optimize available resources and still result in adequate and acceptable levels of environmental protection?
• How can wastewater treatment systems, centralized and decentralized, best be
• selected, funded and used consistently and appropriately in each situation?

No single method of wastewater treatment is the answer for all situations and this presentation is not intended to determine the most appropriate wastewater treatment method for any particular situation. However, the intent of the AWIN (Assessing Wastewater Infrastructure Needs) effort is to help develop, enhance and continue the discussion, look at a possible approach to provide a qualified assessment of infrastructure needs, and work towards solving the problem of how best to use available resources to meet wastewater infrastructure needs while providing adequate and appropriate environmental protection.