sixty to eighty percent of water consumption to repair existing sewer lines and pay for new equipment. a year later, in november 1989, greensburg city council tabled a proposed ordinance to extend the greater greensburg sewage authority's term to the year 2025 in order for council members to have time to investigate consumer complaints about water rates and determine if the authority's term, which was slated to expire in 1990, could be renewed for a shorter period. although executives of the greater greensburg sewer authority applied for an $8,000,000 grant from the united states government in february 1988 to enable upgrading of the authority's sewer treatment plant to bring it into compliance with new ammonia nitrogen pollution limits that were scheduled to take effect under the clean water act of the united states on july 1 of that year, treatment plant operators were ultimately unable to meet those tighter restrictions. as a result, the sewer authority was fined $160,000 by the federal government in may 1991, and continued to face additional fines if its sewage treatment plant was not brought into compliance before the end of that year, even though it had already begun construction of a new plant, which was slated to be completed by december 15, 1991.