Instead of abiding by strict phosphorus discharge limits, EPA allowing cities to pay fee instead

La Crosse could pay $500k fee, but may still
get stuck with treatment upgrades down road.

There’s a way out for La Crosse’s water utility if it wants to avoid the phosphorous hit – at least a temporary one.  

The EPA has approved a way for water and sewer utilities to pay a yearly fee in order to put off having to meet new, very strict limits on phosphorous discharges imposed by the state’s DNR.

Instead, they could pay a conservation agency to tackle non-point pollution from sources like farms.  

City water utility manager Mark Johnson says yearly payments could cost around $500,000 – a cost that would ultimately get passed along to utility customers.  

The city could do that for, perhaps, a decade. There is, however, no guarantee city water customers wouldn’t also eventually still get stuck with the bill for having to spend millions more controlling phosphorous at the treatment plant.  

“Obviously, there are things going on on the federal level,” Johnson said, “but I have no idea if that means that, in this particular case, phosphorus, if that regulation, those requirements would change.”