When it comes to sewer lines, the cost to install even a short distance quickly starts to run government entities millions of dollars.
A quick look around Chautauqua County shows a piecemeal system, with different municipalities having addressed wastewater issues as needed.
In 2008, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a report on New York's wastewater infrastructure.
The conservative cost for repairing, replacing and updating all of the state's infrastructure at that time was estimated to be $36.2 billion over 20 years.
A more recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers shows the situation to be similar across the country, with the annual cost of maintaining and modernizing wastewater infrastructure not being met.
According to that report, the estimated cost of maintenance and upgrade required for drinking and wastewater treatment across the country in 2010 was $91 billion. That number looks to balloon to $126 billion by 2020 and $195 billion in 2040.
However, of the $91 billion required in 2010, only $36 billion was funded - leaving a gap.
The report continues on to outline the effect of that gap on maintenance and upgrade expenses, public health and the national economy.
AGING INFRASTRUCTURE
According to the state DEC report, the 610 municipal wastewater plants in New York were generally meeting baseline technology limits in 2008. Yet a growing number were slipping away from their limits as the infrastructure aged beyond its expected useful life.
The American Society of Civil Engineers rated the nation's wastewater systems as a D- in a 2005 report card. One of the major factors for the rating was the deterioration of the sewage collection systems.
According to a 2004 state DEC survey of the 1,060 sewage collection systems in New York state, more than 30 percent were found to be in excess of 60 years old and beyond their expected useful life. Those findings proved in line with the national landscape, where antiquated sewage collection systems are increasing.
LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Locally, wastewater issues are largely addressed by individual municipalities and wastewater districts as needed.
Doug Bowen, who chairs the county Planning Board, called it a "mixed bag" in that respect.
The county's infrastructure is not something the Planning Board has dealt with recently in any sort of comprehensive manner, he said.
"Our discussions on anything to do with wastewater would have come through the capital projects review process," he said. "That would have been dealing with whatever items fit the criteria for the county Planning Board level."
As a Ripley resident, Bowen said was able to speak about the substation being worked on for businesses located on Route 5. However, beyond that, the wastewater needs of the county's other communities are better known to the individuals residing there, he said.
"It's kind of mixed from community to community," Bowen said. "Each has their own unique circumstances, and money is tight everywhere. When it comes to water lines in comparison to sewer lines, the water lines are much less a cost to put in. Sewer lines easily run into the millions of dollars to go any distance."
Beyond the individual communities and their respective projects, Bowen said, the county Planning Board hasn't looked at wastewater infrastructure in any comprehensive manner recently.
In part that's because upgrades to sewer and water districts are paid for by the user fees charged to those residing within the particular districts, Bowen continued - plus whatever grant funds can be obtained along the way.
"Sure it's a countywide need, obviously," Bowen said. "We just haven't reviewed it at the county Planning Board level."
SOUTH & CENTER
The South & Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer Districts are two separate districts which operate as one.
The organization is an enterprise agency of the county, which means it is a department of county government but has substantial statutory powers to operate as a business. There are certain things which enterprise agencies can do directly that other departments of county government cannot do.
Thom Shagla chairs the administrative board which oversees the South & Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer Districts.
Questioned about the status of the combined districts, Shagla boasted that South & Center hasn't raised its rates in 12 years.
"We have no debt and we try to run the sewer district as efficiently as possible by anticipating things that need to be dealt with then dealing with them prior to anything breaking," Shagla said. "As long as we can keep along those lines, we're in great shape."
In the near future, Shagla said, South & Center has to being removing increased amounts of phosphorus as a result of a state mandate - which will mean a million-dollar addition for the combined sewer districts.
"We have more than enough money to pay for the project out of our money that we have in the district," Shagla said. "It's a typical state thing where they require an entity to do something without providing funding to do it, but we're fortunate - though there may be other areas or other entities that won't be able to afford to do it. Fortunately for us, we're in good shape."
When the district was first formed in 1969, there was an intention to have a separate sewage treatment plant in Bemus Point for the Center District and the plant in Celoron for the South District.
A study conducted at the time, however, showed that for a nominal additional amount, everything could be done in one plant. That's when the decision was made to run the two together. The simplest way to deal with that, district officials have explained, was just to have a contract between the two districts which basically says they will be administered as one.
"We've come a long way," Shagla said. "We were once in debt and the cash flow wasn't going the way it should have been. So we had to do a rate increase early on, back a ways. I remember having a hearing up at the Fluvanna Fire Hall and getting beat up on by everybody.
"It's not a popular subject, raising rates," Shagla continued. "But we raised the rates and the big thing about it is, it gave us stability. We raised the rates to where we needed them to be rather than raising them a little bit more and a little bit more every year." We bit the bullet and raised an adequate amount to cover what we needed."
FUNDING INFRASTRUCTURE
According to the 2008 state DEC report, the way in which wastewater infrastructure is funded has changed in recent years.
In the past, the federal and state governments provided significant funding for infrastructure repair and replacement.
That is no longer true today, the report stated.
"In the 1990s, the federal grants program shifted to a low-interest loan program, making it harder for many communities to address their infrastructure needs," the report says. "New York voters approved the 1996 Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act which provided funding for wastewater infrastructure in certain areas, but these funds have been fully obligated. To date, New York state has invested over $11 billion in wastewater infrastructure."
With federal and state assistance reduce, the report pointed out how the burden of maintaining wastewater infrastructure then fell on local governments. As a result, many local municipalities have had trouble convincing their residents and ratepayers that the wastewater infrastructure requires proactive management, including planning for repairs and replacement and charging rates that cover those costs.
Fewer than 40 percent of municipalities have a capital improvement plan for their wastewater collection systems, the report found.
Except for transportation infrastructure, water and wastewater infrastructure are the largest of municipal assets. Adequate water infrastructure funding, the report states, is a critical component of urban revitalization, smart economic growth and property tax relief. It is essential for the protection of public health and environment.