What's New
Billions of gallons of
bacteria-ridden sewage are being dumped into Ohio’s
waterways, including Lake
Erie, every year. And the worst
part is, Ohioans are being kept in the dark. Ohio
has no statewide requirement for sewage utilities to report to the Ohio
Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) or to the public when they dump
untreated sewage. Environment Ohio
applauds state Rep. Oelslager, who has introduced legislation that
will require sewage utilities to report to the OEPA and the public when our
health is threatened from sewage pollution.
How You Can Help
Please
take a minute to tell your legislators to support legislation that will
give Ohioans the right to know when our health is threatened from sewage
pollution.
Brief Summary
While more than
thirty years after the Cuyahoga River was engulfed in flames
and the Clean Water Act was passed to clean up America’s waterways, Ohio’s lakes, rivers, and
streams continue to be plagued by pollution. In 2004, 11 studied
communities dumped over 8 billion gallons of untreated sewage into our
waterways, including Lake Erie. There are another 77
communities around the state of Ohio that are contributing
billions more gallons of disease-ridden sewage to our waterways.
The discharge
of untreated human sewage to our waterways poses severe potential threats to
human health. Sewage commonly contains bacteria, parasites and viruses that can
make people ill, as well as a slew of toxic chemicals. A recent government
study found the Hepatitis A virus, salmonella and giardia in water samples
taken from the Cuyahoga River. These pathogens can
cause dangerous gastrointestinal diseases, and in some cases can even lead to
death.
The Clean Water
Act calls for the elimination of untreated or partially treated sewage
overflows into our waters. The law also requires that until sewage overflows
are eliminated, sewage treatment utilities must monitor, report, and notify the
public of all sewage overflows. Unfortunately, Ohio is trailing behind the
other Great Lakes states, with no consistent requirements for
polluters to report to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency or to the
public when they dump disease-ridden sewage.
Ohio should follow the lead of states like Indiana
and Michigan and pass legislation that requires consistent reporting of sewage
discharges and that notifies the public about sewage discharges into local
waterways.
