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Rep. Marcia Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, wants the Environmental Protection Agency to establish grants that would help low-income people pay water and sewer bills that rose because of costs utilities incurred to comply with the Clean Water Act.

(Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com)

WASHINGTON - Northeast Ohio's rising water and sewer rates have prompted U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge to suggest a new federal program to help low-income households pay those bills.

The cost of EPA-required improvements to keep sewage from overflowing into waterways have caused dramatic rate hikes, such as a 69-percent increase in Akron's bills.

Fudge, a Democrat from Warrensville Heights, has drafted federal legislation to establish a pilot program to subsidize sewer bills, modeled on the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps pay heat and air-conditioning bills. The sewer program would have similar financial qualification levels as the energy program.

"As utility companies work to achieve full compliance with clean water standards, Congress must ensure our nation's most vulnerable are not priced out of life's most essential resource," Fudge said in a statement.

Here are 5 things to know:

1. Fudge legislation would require a pilot program, where the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would award grants to at least 10 sewer districts ordered to comply with the Clean Water Act. The grants would be funded through EPA's discretionary budget, which is set by Congress.

2. Within a year of the pilot program's enactment, the EPA administrator would be required to report to Congress on its results.

3. The bill was cosponsored by all the Democrats in Ohio's House delegation, and some from Michigan. There's no counterpart in the U.S. Senate.

4. It was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

5. Fudge's proposal is endorsed by Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan, whose water and sewage system serves several other Summit County communities. It raised rates rates by 69 percent in a single year to help pay for a $1.4 billion court-ordered project to keep its sewage from overflowing into the Cuyahoga River.

It is also endorsed by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which serves 62 communities in Cuyahoga, Summit, Lorain and Lake counties. Its rates more than doubled since 2009 because of $3 billion in upgrades to keep sewage overflows out of Lake Erie, the Cuyahoga River and its tributaries.

Sewer District CEO Julius Ciaccia said Fudge's bill would "allow organizations like the sewer district to continue to address water and wastewater infrastructure issues while helping those ratepayers most in need."