I Vote for Water

Are you all fired up over what one presidential candidate or the other recently said? Do you know who our U.S. Senatorial candidates are? Will you stand in line on November 6 to exercise your rights and do your civic duty?

Do you know where your candidates stand with respect to the environment? How about water? These 500 words won’t tell you to vote for one candidate or another. They are meant to remind us all that the burning of the Cuyahoga River and the proclamation that Lake Erie was dead helped lead to the formation of the EPA, implementation of the Clean Water Act (which turns 40 this month), and the whole environmental movement.

We’ve come a long way in 40 years. The Cuyahoga River is now a state scenic river and Lake Erie has become a sport fishing haven. Living in Avon Lake, we all deeply care about Lake Erie. We are all concerned that toxic algae is now back. Some of the problem can be attributed to us. Residents in Avon Lake who over-fertilize their lawns potentially contribute to algae in the lake either through runoff from their properties or contamination of the groundwater. This can be easily addressed by applying only the amount of fertilizer recommended on the package and looking for fertilizers that don’t contain phosphorus (once your landscaping is well-established).

Another contributor to toxic algae is combined or sanitary sewer overflows. When too much clean water enters the sewer system (usually during or just after rain events), some of the water in the sanitary or combined sewer system may be discharged directly to the lake without treatment. ALMU has been working since the mid-1990’s to address this and is currently scheduled to complete work to prevent excessive overflows by 2020.

We estimate it may take at least $50 million to complete the work in the next 7 years. Though this will require rate increases to accomplish the work, it will result in a cleaner lake, more swimmable beaches, and jobs for our local economy. Approximately 10 jobs are created for each million dollars of water/sewer infrastructure investment. Therefore, the improvements needed in Avon Lake to help keep Lake Erie cleaner would create 500 jobs in the local area.

ALMU is working to reduce the total investment required in Avon Lake. To do this, we will be working with residents in the currently and formerly combined sewer areas of the City. By working with residents to prevent clean water from entering the sanitary sewer, we may be able to prevent tens of millions of dollars of improvements required within the City. This approach is different from what we have done in the past, and will require work and investment on the part of some. However, their overall investment will be less than if we continued with “business as usual,” as will the investments of all within the City.

This investment in water protects you, it improves our environment, and it creates jobs. Water’s worth it™ and you’re worth it.

Follow us on Twitter or Like our Facebook page to learn more.

Our goal: Healthy customers, healthy environment through sustainable water management.