The state is in the process of appointing a new task force charged with finding ways to help municipalities and water and sewer system operators fund $20 billion worth of maintenance and reconstruction projects needed to meet federal water quality standards.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who announced the creation of the task force last week, said it is needed because at the same time federal mandates are requiring expensive sewer and water system improvements, federal funding has been slashed by more than half.

He said the federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund has been reduced by $30 million over the last three years to an allocation this year of $27 million. And President Bush's fiscal 2009 federal budget proposal cuts another $330 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, largely from sewer projects.

"While I've called on Congress to restore these valuable funds, we must take steps to ensure we have reliable systems in place that deliver dependable services," Mr. Rendell said. "The high-level task force I'm establishing through this executive order will focus on finding solutions to Pennsylvania's drinking water and wastewater system needs, either through new funding sources or cost-effective, non-structural alternatives."

Such alternative funding paths would be particularly important to the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority and its 83 member municipalities that are facing more than $3 billion in system improvements. Federally mandated consent orders require the authority and its member municipalities to reduce significantly the wet weather overflow of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the area's rivers and tributaries.

Nancy Barylak, Alcosan's spokeswoman, said the authority will have a seat on the state task force and views its job as an extension of what the authority is already doing: trying to find federal and state money to minimize customer rate hikes.

"We're already starting to see that paying for the sewer infrastructure improvements is starting to have an impact on homeowners, and that will be magnified as we get further into the consent order construction," Ms. Barylak said, noting that residential customer rates were increased by 10 percent last year and 9 percent this year. She said there could be additional double-digit rate increases in the future.

"Any money we can bring in will be beneficial in holding down customer charges, and maybe we can find creative ways to do it," Ms. Barylak said.

Members of the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Task Force will include representatives of the Rendell administration, the General Assembly, academia, the state's Office of Consumer Advocate and local government and municipal officials. It will report on its findings to the governor by Oct. 1, in time for him to use them in formulating next year's budget proposal.

A 2004 federal Clean Water Needs Survey found that Pennsylvania needs to spend nearly $11 billion for water system improvements and at least $7.2 billion for sewer projects. Four years of inflation have increased those estimates and aged the state's sewer and water systems a little more.

"Our water and wastewater infrastructure is aging," Mr. Rendell said. "We need to begin developing a comprehensive plan now that supports a sustainable network of systems to protect public health and ensure citizens and businesses don't lose out on the quality and dependable services they have come to expect."

Neil Weaver, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, said the federal funding cuts leave a gap that needs to be filled by some source other than water and sewer customers who are seeing their bills go higher and higher.

"We do not want to see any additional shocks to the ratepayers," Mr. Weaver said. "But we have to meet these needs and do so responsibly."