Clean Water Program Reports
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Executive Summary
As the new home of Ohio PIRG's environmental work, Environment Ohio can be contacted regarding this report.
More than 30 years after
passage of the Clean Water Act and despite the fact that over 7 million people
become sick each year from sewage dumping, over 850 billion gallons of untreated
or partially treated sewage are being released into U.S. rivers, lakes and streams
every year. In the Great Lakes, this problem is particularly severe: sewage
dumping is a major source of water quality degradation and attendant beach closings,
wildlife diebacks and human health problems.
Despite the known risks
associated with sewage dumping, citizens in the Great Lakes are often not told
when sewage is being dumped. Most states around the Great Lakes have weak, nonexistent
or unevenly enforced sewage dumping public notification laws and regulations.
Citizens deserve to know when the waterways in their neighborhoods are unsafe
because of sewage dumping; they also deserve to know what is being done to stop
this problem and how to protect their health. Currently, many citizens are being
denied this right and, thus, exposed unknowingly to contaminated water.
The elements of a strong
dumping right-to-know program include direct, immediate public notification
via multiple methods as well as prenotification of potential dumping, annual
reports that detail the extent of the problem, and a public education and outreach
program that teaches citizens how to avoid sewage contamination. Ranking statewide
sewage dumping laws/regulations and their implementation against these criteria
reveals the following:
Michigan (A-): Best
overall law, although implementation needs to be improved.
Indiana (B+): A model
for direct public notification, but misses some types of dumping.
New York (B-): Some
strong requirements, but significant loopholes.
Minnesota (C+): Notification
system needs to be more systematic and coordinated.
Pennsylvania (C-):
Notification is not comprehensive and does not reach public directly.
Illinois (C-): Scattered
approach needs to be strengthened and institutionalized.
Wisconsin (D+): Vague
rule needs to be expanded, clarified and codified.
Ohio (D-): No significant
statewide public notification program exists.
While notification is important
to protect citizens from the hazards of sewage dumping, the only way to truly
protect public health over the long-term is to stop the regular release of raw
or partially untreated sewage. To stop sewage dumping, three things need to
happen:
1) Communities need to enact
comprehensive sewage dumping solutions that focus on preventing stormwater from
entering sewage systems as well as the proper operation and maintenance of sewage
infrastructure.
2) Government agencies need
to provide more funding for sewage infrastructure and ensure that funding is
used effectively.
3) Environmental agencies
need to enforce laws that require long-term elimination of overflows and shortterm
penalties for non-compliance.
One promising development
in the effort to stop sewage dumping is the recent creation of the Healing Our
Waters – Great Lakes Coalition and the EPA-led Great Lakes Regional Collaborative.
Both efforts are in the process of creating a fundable plan to restore the Great
Lakes, including the “virtual elimination” of sewage dumping. The outcomes from
these processes will shape the future of sewage dumping in the Lakes.
Overall, preventing sewage
dumping is not a technological issue, but rather it is an issue of political
will, citizen activation, funding and creative thinking. Until the day comes
when wastewater treatment plants stop dumping hazardous sewage, Great Lakes
states need to enact comprehensive public notification programs to protect the
health and well-being of its citizens.
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