River Users Dip in But Don't Always Chip In

Aspinwall Herald
7 May 2011
By Mary Ann Thomas

PITTSBURGH -- Many beneficiaries of the nation's inland navigation system of locks and dams don't pay for their upkeep.

The challenge to find more money for the aging and decaying system was one of the themes of the Inland Rivers' Ports and Terminals trade association at its national conference this week.

"The problem is that the Congressional Budget Office wants the navigation industry to pay for all the costs for new construction of the inland navigation system of locks," said Larry Bray, a research professor at the University of Tennessee, at the conference Friday at the Omni William Penn Hotel.

The conference was attended by port directors, river terminal operators and other professionals from inland waterway systems throughout the country.

The trade association is grappling with deep cuts in the federal budget, not only for operations of inland locks and dams but for modernization and capital projects.

The Allegheny River was hit with a 50 percent budget cut in President Obama's preliminary 2011-12 budget, which will close two locks, in Templeton and Rimer, in the farthest reaches of the river's navigable waters. Operating hours on the lower Allegheny locks will be cut, too.

One way to deal with the federal funding cuts is to better define the beneficiaries of the locks and dams, which provide flood protection, navigable channels for commercial boat traffic and stable pools of water.

Bray presented his research on beneficiaries such as hydropower plants, water suppliers, recreational boaters, sewerage systems, waterfront property owners, irrigation for farmers and the military.

Beneficiaries locally including 45,000 jobs that depend on maintaining the waterway traffic, according to James McCarville, executive director of the Port of Pittsburgh.

"People depend on these waterways for cooling industrial plants, intake of drinking water and recreation," McCarville said. "They all benefit from this system."

Bray's research identified 800 utilities in the Ohio River system alone that benefit from waterways. But they don't pay directly for operation or maintenance of the locks and dams.

If something happened to a lock and dam that changed a waterway, a utility would have much to lose if it could not draw drinking water or discharge wastewaters.

"A lot of people have dogs in this (race) and just don't know it," Bray said.

For example, shipping goods on waterways rather than on highways cuts down on road congestion, enhances safety and improves people's health by generating less air pollution.

Bray's research found that inland waterway facilities help control mosquito populations on the Tennessee River where the water levels are dropped intentionally to kill mosquito larvae. It's a method of insect control used in parts of the Mississippi River, too.

"The only thing to do is to keep preaching a consistent message about what you would lose through waterways system decay," Bray said.

McCarville said that because there are so many beneficiaries of inland locks and dams, the money to support them should come from the general treasury.

"It's an ongoing battle, and we urge our leaders to reinvest in this marvelous water transportation system."

Mary Ann Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tribweb.com or 412-782-2121 x1510.