Spill Sewage. Tell No One. Break No Laws

Enough sewage is spilled into America's lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters to fill about 344,000 swimming pools -- one for every house in Pima County, home of Tucson, AZ.

But despite the health risks inherent in any sewage spill -- from viruses and bacteria in the waste -- there are no standard rules for what a company or agency has to tell the public about the spill, according to a Newsday op-ed by U.S. Rep. Tom Bishop, a Democrat from New York's Long Island. Bishop is pushing for a law requiring notification of the public whenever a spill occurs, so that some of the estimated 3.5 million illnesses due to contact with contaminated waters can be reduced. In addition to human health effects, sewage has a ripple of effects through the aquatic ecosystem.

Here's another strategy: Sewage overflows are a problem that can be stopped at the source, with enough investment. The Clean Water Act, in the 1970s, led to the upgrading or installation of sewage treatment plants across the country. The useful life of many of these plants is expiring, and the useful life of the pipes in many older settlements -- particularly in the Northeast, where many century-old (or older) sewage pipes made of cracked clay and other decaying materials remain in place -- has long since expired.

But federal investment -- primarily in the form of low-cost loans for states and local governments that want to upgrade their infrastructure -- has been dwindling in recent years. The collapses of the bridge in Minneapolis this summer woke up the nation to the perils of failing to invest in highway infrastructure. Sewage infrastructure is an even less sexy topic, and yet it's just as important.

COMMENTS ()