Sludge Watch ==> Aging Systems Releasing Sewage into Rivers, Streams

[Maureen Reilly]

http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/reporter.aspx?id=381


Aging systems releasing sewage into rivers, streams

By Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith, Gannett News Service (USA TODAY)

America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and 
streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned 
agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis 
shows.
The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data found that since 
2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been fined for 
violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten local drinking 
water and kill aquatic animals and plants.


DATABASE: Sewer treatment plant reports by state
Find out how your state or your local plant is doing:
http://data.gannettnewsservice.com/sewers/start7.php



Local governments across the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing 
wastewater systems - some of which are more than 100 years old - over the 
next 10 to 20 years, EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said.

Those improvement efforts face a huge challenge mitigating problems in what 
the EPA estimates to be 1.2 million miles of sewers snaking underground 
across the USA.

Waste gurgles from manholes and gushes down streams and rivers somewhere in 
the USA almost every day, the EPA estimates.

. In March, 700,000 to 1.3 million gallons of human feces and other waste 
spilled from a damaged pipe into Grand Lagoon at Panama City Beach, Fla., 
said Al Shortt, the city's utilities director.

. In January, about 20 million gallons of sewage flowed into Pennsylvania's 
Schuylkill River after a 42-inch pipe ruptured near Reading, according to 
the state's Department of Environmental Protection.

. Also in January, heavy rain, deteriorating pipes and operator error sent 
about 5 million gallons of sewage into Northern California's Richardson and 
San Francisco bays, EPA documents show.

"When people flush their toilets, they think the sewage is going to the 
treatment plant, and that's where they deserve to have it go," said Nancy 
Stoner, a project director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which 
says the government isn't doing enough to police sewage overflows.

Gannett News Service analyzed enforcement and compliance records compiled by 
the EPA and state regulators from January 2003 to February 2008.

The analysis found that at least one-third of the nation's large, publicly 
owned sewage treatment systems were the subject of formal enforcement 
actions by the EPA or state regulators for sewage spills or other 
violations. Those enforcement actions included fines as well as orders to 
fix problems or expand treatment capacity. Fines totaling $35 million were 
assessed against 494 of the nation's 4,200 municipal facilities that treat 
at least 1 million gallons of sewage daily, the analysis shows.

In addition, some states have levied penalties that aren't included in the 
EPA data. Cities with the largest fines included San Diego ($6.2 million), 
New York ($3 million) and Los Angeles ($1.6 million).

An EPA 2004 report to Congress estimated that 850 billion gallons of storm 
water mixed with raw sewage pour into U.S. waters every year from older, 
combined sewer systems that were designed to overflow in wet weather. These 
combined systems, built by cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries, are 
now considered antiquated and a threat to public health and the environment, 
according to the EPA and environmental groups.

An additional 3 billion to 10 billion gallons of raw sewage spill 
accidentally every year from systems designed to carry only sewage, 
according to the 2004 report. Causes of these spills include improper 
connections, clogs from debris, construction accidents and cracks in aging 
pipes.

The EPA estimates that as many as 5,500 people get sick every year from 
direct exposure to sewer overflows near beaches.

Regulators and citizens' lawsuits have pressured local governments to take 
on costly, complex modernization projects that may take more than a 
generation to complete.

Pittsburgh's Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, for example, has agreed to 
a project that could cost $3 billion over the next 20 years.

"There's nowhere near enough money, and there's no pot where it's going to 
come from," Arletta Scott Williams, executive director at Pittsburgh's 
wastewater treatment plant on the Ohio River, said at a town hall meeting 
last fall.

Ratepayers are being asked to foot much of the bill. A review of local 
authorities' responses to costly consent decrees requiring sewer system 
improvements found rates have already increased in several cities, including 
Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta and San Diego. The review showed pending 
increases for cities including Pittsburgh, Washington and Los Angeles.

The EPA's 2002 Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis 
reported the nation's municipal sewer authorities' capital needs to meet 
clean water requirements from 2000 to 2019 ranged from $331 billion to $450 
billion. Based on that data, the National Association of Clean Water 
Agencies now puts that range at $350 billion to $500 billion for the next 20 
years, association spokeswoman Susan Bruninga said.

This year, the federal government has budgeted $687 million for such 
improvements.

One modernization project alone, in Indianapolis, could cost $1.2 billion. 
Residents hope the repairs will end years of smelly and unsightly problems 
along Fall Creek.

"I have walked this area on numerous occasions and could see condoms 
decorating bushes where the water level had been high (and), feminine 
hygiene products along the shores, toilet paper hanging in bushes," said 
Richard Van Frank, a local environmental activist and retired biochemist.

Legislation that would require sewer authorities to notify the public of 
overflows and spills is pending in Congress.

One environmental group, American Rivers, uses humor and a "Spill of the 
Week" Web blog to encourage support for a nationwide public notification 
law.

"We try to be a little snarky about this," said Josh Klein, a campaign 
coordinator for American Rivers. "After all, we're talking about poop. But 
it is a serious issue."