Dozens of small newspapers in The Keystone State are covering what is becoming a nightmare -- the quest to raise nearly $1 billion to upgrade sewage treatment plants that are pumping nitrogen and phosphorus into small tributaries that eventually lead to the Susquehanna River.

It's a nightmare because Pennsylvania is filled with dozens of small municipalities that do their own sewage treatment. Many of them are in rural parts of the state that are not growing, not wealthy, and not anywhere near the Chesapeake Bay.

These are, by and large, not people who crab, fish, and get to watch lovely sunsets on their pier every day. They may get to do that if they spend their summers in Maryland, but they are separated from the bay by some 150 miles, and the disconnect is great. Many, I'm sure, are thinking, why should they pay a couple hundred dollars more a month to protect something they can't see? isn't the bay Md's and Va's problem?

(Maryland and Virginia took responsibility for their part of the sewage-treatment problem a few years ago, when they passed "flush fees" that charge residents a few dollars each month to pay for plant upgrades. Those pieces of legislation will generate millions of dollars, which will go to upgrade plants and remove nitrogen.)

The PA problem is compounded by the fact that much of the pollution coming from Pennsylvania is from agriculture. Thus far, farmers are not being asked to pay a commensurate amount to clean up the bay.

Last week, 65 municipalities sued the state of Pennsylvania over the issue.

Among their arguments was that the state signed an illegal agreement to improve water quality,  according to the Hanover paper. They will also be making the case that, in these economic times, residents can ill afford such an increase and will be forced to choose between paying their water bill and, say, filling up their tanks. The Danville paper interviewed people expected to be facing such hardships.

But the Chambersburg paper, in an editorial, makes the case that the towns should pay, because they will have to do it eventually, and now is cheaper than later. Plus. they say, much of the upgrades are necessary because the community is growing.

Here's an excerpt:

Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. agreed about 25 years ago to do something about Chesapeake Bay pollution, and they face a 2010 deadline to finish or face fines. The issue has been hanging like a 1,000-pound toilet seat around the necks of state and local governments for far too long.

Chambersburg and municipalities like it should do their part so attention can be focused where it belongs -- on the agricultural interests that contribute far more pollution to the Chesapeake Bay, and also enjoy correspondingly greater influence among state policy makers.

Local governments should make sure their responsibilities are met. Then it becomes incumbent upon DEP to dig in and address the agricultural pollution sources.

I talked to two people familiar with the Bay Program today and they predicted the future thusly:

The suit will drag on, the states will say we can't meet our obligation because the municipalities can't afford to, and the EPA will basically tell them they don't have to do it. With the Susquehanna contributing more than half of all of the freshwater to the bay, the problem is bound to worsen.

Perhaps a cynical view, but there you have it.