11. Where Will the Money Come From? Upgrading Infrastructure for Wastewater Treatment Facilities

* Due to a scheduling conflict, this session has been moved to the morning schedule.

Morning Session – 8:30AM – 9:30AM (Capital Room, North Wing, 2nd Floor)

* 2.5 credits are available for this session through APA AICP
* One presentation in this session has been approved for training contact hours (TCH) through the State of Maine Board of Licensure of Water System Operators. Please see below for details.
* This session have been approved for 1 training contact hour (TCH) through Maine’s Wastewater Operator Certification Program.

Chair:
Brian Kavanah, Acting Co-Director, Bureau of Water Quality, Director, Division of Water Quality Management, Maine Department of Environmental Protection

Maine has 162 municipal and quasimunicipal wastewater treatment facilities with associated sewer lines and pump stations. In addition, Maine has 41 satellite sewer collection systems. This infrastructure conveys and treats wastewater from homes and business and is essential to protect and improve the waters of the state. There is an existing need of approximately $1 billion dollars to upgrade this infrastructure as it comes to the end of its useful life and to abate combined sewer overflows from combined sanitary and stormwater sewers. This panel discussion will provide a brief overview of this infrastructure, current financial needs and funding options, and explore new ways to fill the current funding gap.

Panel Discussion

8:30PM – 8:45PM

Introductions and overview of wastewater infrastructure in Maine
Brian Kavanah, Maine Department of Environmental Protection

8:45PM – 9:05PM

Financial challenges of a small town
Annaleis Hafford, P.E. Olver Associates Inc.

9:05PM – 9:25PM

Approved for 0.5 TCH

The challenges of bonding. Experience of last legislative session.
A new approach: LD 347 – “An Act to Provide Sustainable Funding for Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
Tim Haskell, Maine Water Environment Association (MeWEA)

9:25PM – 9:30PM

Questions/Comments