Burlington, Vermont Mayor Miro Weinberger announced a plan Thursday afternoon that is intended to solve the city's wastewater and stormwater runoff problems.
Vermont’s largest city has seen an increase in stormwater and wastewater discharges into Lake Champlain this year, forcing closure of several popular beaches. Most occurred following storms that overburdened system capacity.
At the main Wastewater Treatment Plant just south of downtown, Mayor Weinberger announced that the city has accelerated plans to renovate Burlington’s storm and wastewater systems. A proposed $30 million Clean Water Resiliency Plan that he says will help solve the runoff problem will be put before the City Council on Monday. “This plan includes overdue investments in our wastewater and storm water systems that will stabilize the parts of our system that have been breaking or at highest risk of breaking in the near future. It will modernize that system and it will upgrade our system in key areas. In short, this $30 million plan will ensure that we do not go backwards with respect to lake protection and it will make unpermitted discharges into the lake even more rare than they have ever been since the 1800’s when our water systems were built.”
Director of Public Works Chapin Spencer said the plan is the result of three years of work and is composed of seven key strategies. “Number 1: reinvesting in our wastewater treatment plants. It has been 24 years since the last comprehensive upgrade. Number 2: updating our pump stations. Number 3: relining and rehabilitating our stormwater and wastewater pipes. Many of these are over 100 years old. This plan identifies 13 miles of the highest risk pipe and we’ll either re-line or replace them. Number 4: repairing our stormwater outfalls. Number 5: implementing pollution prevention programs. Number 6: constructing green infrastructure. Number 7: minimize rate impacts while maximizing the performance of our infrastructure.”
The city council will decide whether the plan should be placed on the November ballot for voter approval. South District Democrat Councilor Joan Shannon said the most important action the city can take to protect Lake Champlain water quality is to make needed upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment system. “Our lake is the crown jewel of our city and a high priority for our citizens. I have certainly heard from many citizens who are aghast at recent system failures leading to pollution in our great lake. But these failures are not the personal failures of today’s keepers of the system, rather a result of a long time lack of investment that we need to address today. There have been no significant upgrades to the plant since 1994. We are much better off today than were in 1994 in terms of discharges to the lake but it’s an ongoing process.”
The overall discharge into Lake Champlain from treatment plants and Combined Sewer Overflows in Burlington this year is approximately 13 million gallons.
A public town hall on the proposed plan is set for September 27th at 6 p.m. at Contois Auditorium. It will include tours of the main wastewater treatment plant.
