Federal Government Refuses to Pay DC Stormwater Fee

I have lived my whole life in northern Virginia, and therefore I have relied on the Potomac River for many things. I have canoed in the river, hiked by the river, and this summer after working at my local water authority even learned that it provides all of my water at home. However, I was shocked when in 2008 the Potomac Conservancy released a report on the health of the Potomac, ranking it a D+. I have always known the river had severe pollution issues, but that low of a ranking was unnerving. This river provides my drinking water!

A major contributor to the pollution in the Potomac River is storm-water runoff. When it rains, the stormwater picks up pollutants from the streets and mixes with the wastewater, which then overflows the Combined Sewer System, causing the toxic mixture to flow into the river. Last year the DC Dept. of the Environment decided to try to address this non-point source pollution by changing the stormwater fee that residents and businesses pay. Previously, homes paid a flat fee, while all other users paid a fee based on how much water was used. The fee is now changing to be based on how much surface area a property has. This is thought to be a better way to judge how much stormwater runs off a property. The money raised from this fee will be used to construct a better stormwater system that will not allow for such overflows.

Under the Clean Water Act amendments of 1987, it is the responsibility of the states to develop a plan for dealing with non-point source pollution. This new stormwater fee seems to be exactly what the amendments are talking about. However, although this is a federal policy the federal government is refusing to pay part of this fee. The government is claiming that part of the fee is actually a tax, and the federal government cannot pay taxes levied by local and state governments. This has caused some backlash, including from Senator Cardin (MD). Those who believe the government should pay say that they need to take responsibility for their part in the pollution of the Potomac River (the government owns 30% of the land in DC). I agree with that statement. DC is implementing this fee to comply with a federal policy, and the federal government should not be exempt from that simply because they claim it is a tax, which I do not see it as. Instead I see the fee as an effort to clean up a waterway that is very important to the DC region, something that everyone in the area should be responsible for. The federal government should be making an example out of their support of this fee instead of shooting it down.

-Kelsey Brandt