A new city committee will study how to distribute the cost of federal regulations governing water and stormwater management.
Federal regulatory agencies have focused on Haverhill for more than 20 years, looking at the city's release of wastewater into the Merrimack River. Excessive storm water causes sewage overflow into the river because the city's storm water and waste water run through the same system.
Two heavy rainstorms in the last month have highlighted the problem, Mayor James Fiorentini told the City Council this week.
Councilor Mary Ellen Daly-O'Brien, chairwoman of the Administration and Finance Committee, said her panel will draft new ordinances for the wastewater group's work.
Daly O'Brien said that support for the mayor's request to form the committee was not the problem facing the council. "It's the funding (that is the issue)," she said. "It's either you add a fee for wastewater and water or is it better to develop a separate entity just to deal with stormwater? One way or another (Haverhill's) going to pay."
The stormwater committee will include city councilors and members of the public.
The committee will also look at creating a way to distribute the cost of the upgrades fairly among homeowners and businesses. Under the city's current fee structure, homeowners and businesses would pay the same amount.
Some councilors took issue with that, saying that it was unfair to the homeowners.
Daly O'Brien said it is necessary for the mayor to include the public in the committee for that reason.
She argued that schools also should be involved, due to the differing impacts that homes, businesses and schools have on the city's water collection system.
Even though the city is operating at a projected budget deficit in the coming fiscal year, Daly O'Brien and City Councilor Sven Amirian said the project must move forward.
Amirian added that the problem would only compound if nothing was done.
"It's going to take an additional eight to 10 employees (added to the city's payroll) to implement the changes that the EPA wants us to make," he said. He added that the city must find the money to fund the committee, despite the projected deficit, because the federal government will fine the city for violations regardless.
Daly O'Brien said that the committee would not only address meeting the regulations but upgrades to the city's storm water systems as well.
The committee's work will also include how to pay for new water meters that Fiorentini had anticipated borrowing roughly $4 million to install.
The new meters, which can be read from a truck driving past, will help the city bill more accurately for water, according to a request given to the City Council.
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