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Keep Untreated Sewage Out of Rivers
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Progressive Portal
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Mar 01, 2005 10:59 PST
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INSTEAD OF FUNDING NEEDED WASTEWATER TREATMENT, BUSH PLAN
WOULD LET LOCAL AUTHORITIES MIX TREATED AND UNTREATED WASTE
[From the U.S. Public Interest Research Group <http://uspirg.org> and
American Rivers <http://www.amrivers.org>]
The Environmental Protection Agency is close to issuing new
guidelines allowing local sewage authorities to dump partially treated
wastewater into rivers and other waterways during heavy rainfalls. Under
current policies, plants are supposed to discharge partially treated
waste only when there is no alternative. The EPA's proposal would relax
those rules, making it easier for utilities to divert sewage around
secondary treatment plants.
Authorities would be required to "blend" minimally treated sewage with
fully treated wastewater prior to discharge, and in theory they would
have to monitor the results to ensure that they meet federal
water-quality standards. But the EPA has clearly stated in writing that
blending violates the Clean Water Act, which requires all wastewater to
meet secondary treatment standards prior to discharge. Even those
current standards do not cover many unhealthful viruses and parasites.
The EPA's proposal ignores scientific findings - including its own staff
studies - linking wastewater to the spread of disease. Blended sewage
contains high quantities of pathogens - disease-producing microorganisms
naturally present in sewage, including E coli and other bacteria;
viruses such as hepatitis A, cryptosporidium and giardia protozoa; and
helminth worms. Experts estimate that there are 7.1 million
mild-to-moderate cases and 560,000 moderate-to-severe cases of
infectious waterborne disease in the United States annually. While most
people recover from the diseases spread by waterborne pathogens in
sewage, they can threaten the lives of young children, the elderly,
cancer patients, and other people with compromised immune systems.
CONTINUED BELOW ...
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The EPA first released its new sewage proposal in draft form in November
2003, but backed off after receiving nearly 100,000 public comments on
the plan, most of them critical. Now, however, the agency is apparently
bowing to pressure from industry. Although its spokesmen say no decision
has been made, recently leaked documents refer to the proposal as "final
policy."
The debate on sewage treatment standards comes as much of the nation's
wastewater infrastructure is crumbling, and federal officials estimate
it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to cope with the increased
demand for sewage treatment. Instead of facing up to the problem and
funding construction of the necessary facilities, the Bush
administration is trying to "solve" the problem by undermining standards
that have been in place for decades.
Write to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt and urge him to withdraw the
proposed sewage blending policy and to ensure that wastewater treatment
plants are adequately treating all sewage.
Take Action
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Send a message to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt at:
http://uspirg.org/uspirg.asp?id=2&id3=USPIRG&id4=ES
More Information
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Detailed fact sheets and other resources on the sewage-treatment issue:
http://www.cwn.org/cwn/issues/sewage/index.cfm
An American Rivers page with links to documents on the sewage-treatment
issue:
http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AMR_sewagedumping
A Washington Post article on the EPA plan:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49443-2004Dec8.html?sub=AR
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