CRYING DISASTER

Maine’s case for federal disaster assistance because of drought was weak from the start and grows weaker with every drenching rain – Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines and history make clear that a disaster declaration requires demonstrating imminent threat to human health, something the state did not show. The FEMA rejection of the state’s request is neither a surprise nor cause for disappointment; talk among state officials about an appeal is silly.

Still, this episode has produced some benefit. Although Maine’s disaster-relief application was flawed by conflicting and incomplete information regarding the extent of the problems caused by a dry year, at least the problem was revealed: Many people in this rural state rely on shallow, unreliable dug wells for their household water supplies.

Just how many remains in question. FEMA said 362 private wells had gone dry in the last year. The state’s estimate is between 750 and 17,000, a range that surely damaged the application’s prospects of being taken seriously. Further, the state admitted that most of the dry wells were shallow, dug wells, not deeper, drilled wells and that the majority of people reporting dry wells had also gone dry at least once prior to the drought. The real need, then, is for a few hundred or maybe a few thousand people to get drilled wells, which typically cost $4,000 or so. This is an insufficient reason for a disaster declaration and supports FEMA’s position that state and local resources can solve this problem.

State resources include the state agencies working with federal agencies involved in water projects, such as the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Agriculture. State resources also include its members of Congress, so it is altogether proper for Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to request that the supplemental appropriations bill now being developed include money to help address this problem.

The amount sought by the senators, $7.2 million, is but a tiny rounding error in the entire enormous bill, which has swollen from President Bush’s original request for $27.1 billion to Congress’ $29.4 billion. The bill includes everything from homeland security and defense (including the Crusader artillery program the administration now wants to scrap) to election reform and Pell grants to numerous road and bridge projects. If money for Maine’s water-supply problem is pork, at least it is a small cutlet that addresses a fundamental human need.

Maine would have flexibility in putting this money to use. A good model might the one that enabled the state to quickly and efficiently clean up thousands of faulty septic systems a decade ago – a needs-based sliding scale that allowed homeowners to upgrade their systems with state-backed low-interest loans or, if needed, outright grants. The program worked and the state and its rivers, lakes and bays are healthier for it.

If the senators are not able to obtain this funding, the state should, perhaps through a bond issue. By crying disaster where none really existed, state officials have brought attention to a problem. It’s a problem that won’t go away merely because it’s started to rain again.