The National Association of Clean Water Agencies has asked House committee leaders to include provisions in Surface Transportation Act legislation that would establish policies and guidance to reduce stormwater discharges “to the greatest extent possible,” the association said May 7.

In a letter signed by NACWA members May 6, they noted the Environmental Protection Agency's most recent list of impaired waters covered under the Clean Water Act includes more than 28,000 separate impairments related to highway runoff.
According to the letter, many of the nation's nearly 1 million miles of federal-aid roads were built without any kind of water quality controls and therefore create problems for the nation's waterways.

The letter was addressed to Reps. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; John Mica (R-Fla.), committee ranking minority member; Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; and John Duncan (R-Tenn.), the subcommittee's ranking member.

Achieving the goal of swimmable and fishable waters required under the 1972 Clean Water Act “has proven harder and more costly than we once imagined. It is now more clear than ever that we will not be able to achieve it without more effective approaches to limiting nonpoint sources of pollution,” the letter said.

“We therefore urge you to include language in the upcoming Surface Transportation bill to get this significant source of pollution to the nation's waters under control.”

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, also known as SAFETEA-LU (Public Law 109-59), was enacted Aug. 10, 2005. It authorized the federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit for the five-year period 2005-2009.

A new multiyear reauthorization is anticipated to be taken up by Congress this year. Oberstar previously has said a reauthorization measure could cost up to $500 billion but recently said agreements on broad program reform should be reached before funding levels are proposed.

By Linda Roeder