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Conn. Municipalities Oppose Storm Water Regulation Draft

About a third of Connecticut’s cities and towns are rejecting proposed state regulations for dealing with storm water runoff.

Leaders of the municipalities are denouncing the draft regulations.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities represents most of Connecticut’s towns and cities. It says the new draft regulations by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection dictate the frequency of street sweeping and the cleaning of storm water drainage systems that run into municipal sewers. And this imposes costs that towns and cities simply cannot afford. 

The draft regulations go beyond federal Environmental Protection Agency recommendations and state law, CCM claims. DEEP says it's willing to negotiate on the draft regulations.

“We are looking for ways to work with cities and towns to put better standards in place so we can meet our environmental concerns but at the same time address some of the issues they’ve raise over the fiscal impact of what we’ve proposed,” said DEEP spokesman, Dennis Schain.

Stricter regulation is needed because storm water runoff is a major source of pollution in Connecticut, he said. Several bodies of water in the state are considered impaired under the federal Clean Water Act, according to Schain.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.