Question 3 on the November ballot asks Maine voters whether they “favor a $3.4 million bond issue to support drinking water programs, to support the construction of wastewater treatment facilities and to leverage $17 million in other funds?”

We hope voters support this bond request, and feel it important to detail why Lewiston and Auburn area residents would benefit from its passage.

The federal government created the “Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Fund” programs to help municipalities fund important drinking water, stormwater, and sewer system projects. SRF programs utilize a 5-to-1 federal-to-state match in funding. So for every $1 that Maine invests, it will receive $5 in federal funds.

The $3.4 million bond request asks for $1.7 million for drinking water projects and another $1.7 million for clean water projects. Each $1.7 million state contribution is matched with an $8.5 million federal contribution, or $17 million combined for each program. Approval of Question 3 would continue funding of the SRF programs through 2009.

The need to invest in public utility infrastructure is also urgent.

In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers prepared a report card on American infrastructure. The nation’s water and wastewater infrastructure each received a grade of D-. In 2009, Maine faces $40 to $50 million in water and wastewater projects. These projects are required to maintain regulatory compliance with the federally mandated Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

This SRF money could be utilized locally, too. For clean water, the city of Auburn and Auburn Sewerage District are partnering on a 15-year plan to eliminate all combined sewer overflows (also known as CSOs) that discharge to the Androscoggin River during heavy rain. We are in the ninth year of the plan, which is estimated to cost a total of $19 million. To date, about $11 million has already been spent.

The CSO efforts are having a noticeable impact on the water quality of the Androscoggin. An effort is under way by the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay to have the Maine Department of Environmental Protection upgrade the classification of the river from Class C to a Class B on its lower reaches. This reclassification effort is supported by both the cities of Lewiston and Auburn.

CSOs are not a new problem. For many cities, they date back more than 100 years, when all sanitary waste and stormwater were collected in the same network of pipes and discharged directly to local rivers and streams. In the early 1970s, a joint wastewater treatment plant was built for Lewiston and Auburn, but the old network of pipes was left to transport the combined waste. By the end of the 15-year plan, the city of Auburn will have separate, dedicated collection systems for both stormwater and sanitary wastewater. It is important to note that the estimated $19 million CSO expenditure all goes directly to support local construction projects within the city.

For drinking water, the Auburn Water District is using a $673,000 SRF loan to replace a 109-year-old water main across the Little Androscoggin River. The new water main is needed to ensure reliable service to New Auburn.

Previously, in 2001, the water district utilized the SRF program to borrow $4.2 million to build new water storage tanks to comply with federal regulations. In 2010, Lewiston and Auburn will need to build a joint disinfection facility to comply with Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. The preliminary estimate for this project is $7.6 million. Auburn hopes to fund its portion with SRF money to help minimize the financial impact to its ratepayers.

The SRF program enables us to finance projects through the Maine Municipal Bond Bank at extremely low rates. For instance, the most recent CSO projects obtained financing at 1.62 percent, while the Little Androscoggin River water main project was 1.97 percent. If the SRF program is abandoned, our public customers will have to bear the additional cost of financing and not realize the benefits of a 5-to-1 federal match of the SRF dollars.

We hope the public recognizes the urgency to continue funding the SRF programs, and vote yes on Question 3.

John Storer is a licensed professional engineer and vice president of Maine Water Utilities Association. He is assistant superintendent of the Auburn Water & Sewerage Districts and lives in Auburn.