With an abundance of opponents, candidates for Meridian offices face a difficult path to winning the election in June, but the next few months may just be a warmup for the real trials to come.

 

The City of Meridian, in 2019, entered into a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice. A lack of maintenance and investment in the city’s wastewater system resulted in years of sanitary sewer overflows, allowing untreated wastewater to reach groundwater — a violation of the Clean Water Act.

 

The consent decree, a 20-year “volun-told” plan to fix the city’s sewer system, is estimated to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 million or more. The council borrowed an initial $42 million in 2019 with the understanding additional bonds would be needed later down the line. The council also implemented planned increases to residents’ water bills to help pay back the borrowed money.

 

Now the city is nearing the end of that first pot of money and will need to borrow more to continue making progress on the sewer repairs and stay in compliance with the consent decree plan. New council members may be faced with borrowing another $40 million as one of their first big acts as public officials.

 

Even if the bond is passed prior to the election, the incoming council and city officials will need to hit the books hard to get up to date on the consent decree projects. Tens of millions worth of planning, engineering, construction, maintenance and inspection is underway throughout the city’s entire wastewater network with tens of millions more still to come.

 

Balancing fiscal responsibility with the city’s legal obligations under the consent decree, seeking grants, appropriations and other outside funding and working with the administration to create new positions for essential staff will keep council members plenty busy throughout their term.

 

Meridian is not the only Mississippi city to run afoul of the EPA, and there are examples to follow for both success and failure. With dedicated public servants working to reach the best outcome for Queen City residents, Meridian could exit the consent decree in 20 years with a modern, high functioning wastewater system and a skilled workforce to operate and maintain it.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, we could end up like Jackson, which was stripped of its control over its wastewater system after years of noncompliance and little progress. Now, a federally appointed manager is calling the shots, and the city’s residents, along with the officials they voted to elect, just have to wait for the bill.