EPA's CMOM Program and Your Sewer Rates

The sewer rate increases beginning in early 2005 have understandably led to many questions from our customers.  Most common:  "Why are my rates going up?"  

In short, it's because the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requiring new programs to improve sewer systems.  The EPA requirements revolve around what is called the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) Management, Operation, and Maintenance (MOM) Programs Project.  More commonly, the EPA program is called "CMOM" - short for Capacity, Management, Operation and Maintenance.

(see also WPC's CMOM page)

Whatever it is called, CMOM requires sewer agencies like Huntsville WPC to take more proactive steps to prevent sewer overflows.  These programs, however well-intended, will result in additional costs to WPC.  This raises the overall cost of providing sewer service... and sewer rate increases are necessary.

The EPA office known as Region 4, based in Atlanta, oversees much of the Southeast including Alabama.  The Region 4 office developed the CMOM approach to sewer systems, and is taking the lead in implementing it nationally.  In the Region 4 area, EPA uses the CMOM approach to help it enforce existing law - the Clean Water Act - which prohibits sewer overflows.  Essentially, EPA is saying that it will look less critically on sewer overflows in communities which can show that they have well-planned and well-executed programs to prevent such overflows... in other words, CMOM programs.

In November 2004, Huntsville and  several other cities in the Tennessee River's Wheeler Lake watershed were directed by EPA to perform "self assessments" of their sewer operations.  The self assessments are basically reviews of sewer operations and evaluations of the performance of sewers and wastewater treatment facilities.  WPC's self-assessment report was submitted to EPA on June 30, 2005.

This much, WPC already knows about CMOM:  it comes with a significant cost.  The question is not "if", but "how much".  Compliance with this EPA program requires WPC to develop and implement new, improved programs to further reduce the number and severity of sewer overflows.  These programs are already leading to more sewer rehabilitation, increased sewer inspection and cleaning, additional system monitoring, or many other new programs.  Each new CMOM program will carry with it new costs to WPC - costs which WPC must pass on to its customers.

Click to read more about WPC's sewer rates.