Big-bucks sewer-funding proposals by Sens. George V. Voinovich and Sherrod Brown of Ohio advanced last week in the Senate.

One is a measure co-written by Republican Voinovich and Democrat Brown. It authorizes $1.8 billion nationally over five years to help communities pay for federally mandated repairs to sewer systems. The communities would have to bear 75 percent of the cost. Many Ohio communities face billions of dollars worth of such mandated improvements.

Another is a measure co-written by Voinovich and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and co-sponsored by Brown. It authorizes Congress to send out up to $1.8 billion in federal grants to help modernize sewer systems that often overflow into rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.

Both proposals were

included in a broader funding bill for water infrastructure that was approved Thursday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Voinovich serves.

"Our legislation holds

the federal government responsible for paying its

fair share for the nation's pressing water- and wastewater-infrastructure needs," Voinovich said.