Many sewer systems, despite their obvious importance, are in desperate need of updating and repair.  That’s especially true in the Northeast, where much infrastructure hasn’t been replaced since its original installation. Sometimes during a project, says Brian Johnson, deputy executive director of the Pennsylvania  Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST). “People send in sections of wooden pipe that have been in place since the late 1800s.”

For more than 20 years, PENNVEST has given out grants and low-interest loans, mostly to municipalities, to support the upkeep of water and wastewater systems. But there’s still been a great deal left undone. So, when stimulus funds became available for this job, they were quickly scooped up.  According to a recent GAO report, in fact, Pennsylvania has used over half of its Clean Water stimulus funds for sewer overflow projects.

But there are big challenges to states like Pennsylvania that want to use stimulus dollars for this vital task.  For example, there is a “Buy American” provision attached to these funds. Without questioning the logic of these provisions, the time required to ensure compliance can be daunting. “What was particularly difficult,” explains Johnson, “was some of the smaller projects.” When projects in the $25,000 to $50,000 ballpark looked at the costs of compliance, they many times decided it “wasn’t worth it to move forward.”

Problems like this were compounded by the sometimes confused stimulus timeline. “We had some issues, timing-wise,” says Johnson. “The EPA was saying, ‘Get the money out! Get the money out! Get the money out…we’ll give you the guidance soon.”

Still, Johnson thinks the money spent now will have great benefits in time. “Within the state program we measure success by water quality in discharge streams. A year-to-year basis may be difficult to discern impact but over 5 years or 10 years we will see significant impact." We hope so and have no reason to doubt Johnson. But even if things don’t work out as anticipated, the very fact that the results are being measured is good news.