Small communities facing high costs of unfunded mandate

It's not in the bookstores yet, but a new book is being written by frustrated board members in the small towns of the western United States. The story doesn't have a title, but a good one was suggested Wednesday during a meeting of city and village board members in McCook: "Arsenic and the Old West."

That may be a silly title, but the subject is serious to the town boards who are struggling to comply with the restrictive effects of new federal environmental standards.

For years, the towns of this region got by comfortably because the federal maximum allowable arsenic level for municipal water supplies was 50 parts per billion. But, everything changed when the maximum allowable limit for arsenic was slashed to a maximum level of 10 parts per billion.

The ruling has sent shock waves throughout the wide region of the west that must go deep below the surface for drinking water supplies. "It's not just the towns in this area who are affected," said Marv Colson, a village board member from Bartley. "This hits five states hard." Namely, the states in which town boards are scrambling for answers to water supply questions are Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

What's at stake? Plenty. Take the situation in Bartley as an example. In the village of 355 residents in eastern Red Willow County, an initial expenditure of $2.6 million will be required to develop a water supply that meets federal guidelines.

With 190 water meters in the entire town, that means a cost per meter of $13,684. And, remember, that's just to put the new water system in place. Beyond that, the citizens of Bartley will have to pay for the ongoing cost of operating the system.

Bartley is not alone. In fact, every other Southwest Nebraska town surveyed will have problems complying with the 10 parts per billion arsenic standard. And the towns' problems don't stop there. Many also will have difficulty complying with uranium, lead, copper and nitrate limits as well.

Can anything be done, or are these communities going to be forced to the brink of bankruptcy to comply?

To find out, the communities in the area are banding together. A planning committee meeting took place Wednesday at the Country Kitchen Restaurant in McCook, attended by Marv Colson of Bartley, Richard Mullaney of Cambridge, Tom Spunaugle of Imperial, Frank Potthoff of Palisade, Tony Cribelli of Wauneta and Keith Arterburn, Jerda Garey and Gene Morris of McCook.

The group will meet again June 11, with plans to be ready at that time to form an areawide organization and set up a major conference to discuss the arsenic emergency.

It's one thing to set standards, as the federal government has done. It's another to put them into effect, as the small towns of the Old West are being forced to do, whether they can afford to or not. The town officials of Southwest Nebraska are taking a very important first step in addressing this widespread problem. Let's hope -- by uniting -- they can get federal bureaucrats and politicians to take notice of the situation they have created.