The way they read an initial ordinance floated earlier this year, they would be forced to spend millions of dollars sweeping salt off roads after storms, installing storm-sewer retrofits, and even requiring residents to submit storm-water plans for patios.
The state Department of Environmental Protection originally resisted an extension. But in an interview Tuesday, John Hines, the department's deputy secretary for water management, said that one would be granted after all. He said he expected a formal announcement by mid-August.
"We have heard their concerns," Hines said. "But in this extension period, we all have a lot of work to do, and we need to do it together."
Pennsylvania - like other states - is trying to solve one of the thorniest environmental problems involving the nation's waterways.
Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, environmental officials have made strides in dealing with the pollution that comes from industrial pipes and other identifiable sources, called point-source pollution.
But as suburbs have grown, storm water - non-point-source pollution because it originates everywhere - has become "a bigger portion of the pollution equation," said Jon Capacasa, director of the water protection division for the Environmental Protection Agency's Mid-Atlantic region.
While many states have regional storm-water authorities, Pennsylvania must corral a host of smaller towns, each with a limited purview and, especially, limited funds.
Decades ago, most close-in suburban towns dealt with storm water as a flooding concern, installing large pipes to drain it into waterways as fast as possible.
But erosion became a problem. With algae blooms caused by an excess of fertilizers and other nutrients, populations of fish and other aquatic organisms suffered.
