NEW YORK — In the last three years, nearly 40 percent of the nation’s sewage systems — including those in major cities like New York — have reported violating federal clean water laws by releasing untreated or partially treated human and industrial waste into waterways, according to the latest of New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg’s series of articles on the state of America’s waters and regulators’ responses.
In his report, “As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways,” Duhigg examines data that reveals how outdated combined sewer/stormwater treatment systems fail, especially during heavy rainstorms, creating overflow discharges into the environment as well as violations of the Clean Water Act of 1972.
Duhigg reports: “Fewer than one in five sewage systems that broke the law were ever fined or otherwise sanctioned by state or federal regulators, the Times analysis shows. It is not clear whether the sewage systems that have not reported such dumping are doing any better, because data on overflows and spillage are often incomplete.”
The report also examines how untreated sewage ends up in drinking water sources, and how academic research suggests that as many as 20 million people each year become ill from drinking water containing bacteria and other pathogens that are often spread by untreated waste.
Duhigg quotes the US Environmental Protection Agency, which said in a statement that officials agreed that overflows posed a “significant environmental and human health problem, and significantly reducing or eliminating such overflows has been a priority for EPA enforcement since the mid-1990s.”
In October, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, said the agency was stepping up its efforts on Clean Water Act enforcement, as WaterTech Online® reported.
“The public has no clue how important these sewage plants are,” said Bob Connaughton, a plant engineer at the Owls Head Water Pollution Control Plant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Owls Head plant is overwhelmed during half of all rainfalls occurring in the city, the report said. Connaughton added, “Waterborne disease was the scourge of mankind for centuries. These plants stopped that. We’re doing everything we can to clean as much sewage as possible, but sometimes, that isn’t enough.”
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