Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
EPA Replaces Controversial Sewage Treatment Policy with Safer Alternative
Traditional Adversaries Unite on Plan to Protect Public from
Waterborne Disease
By: NRDC
Published: Dec 20, 2005 at 06:37
The Environmental Protection Agency today announced a proposal
based on a draft by a top U.S. environmental group and a national wastewater
utility trade association that will protect the public from exposure to
inadequately treated sewage in their drinking water and on their beaches.
The new plan is an alternative to an earlier EPA proposal that generated protest
from public health and environmental organizations for being dangerously
inadequate. In an unusual move, EPA responded last April by encouraging the
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the National Association of Clean
Water Agencies (NACWA) to work together to solve the problem. The two
organizations delivered the plan to EPA in late October.
For a copy of the NRDC-NACWA plan, click here.
"Our joint effort produced a plan that goes a long way to protect public health,
and we're pleased that the EPA moved so quickly to endorse it," said Nancy
Stoner, director of NRDC's Clean Water Project. "More than 7 million Americans
get sick from waterborne illnesses every year. Our solution will ensure that
those numbers come down."
New Plan Requires Sewer System Repairs, Public Notification
The original EPA proposal would have allowed wastewater facilities to discharge
inadequately treated sewage into waterways virtually anytime it rains.
The much-improved alternative negotiated by NRDC and NACWA will require
wastewater facilities to upgrade and repair their leaky sewage systems, and
fully treat sewage unless EPA or a state environmental agency determines there
is no feasible way to do so. It also will require facility operators to notify
the public and environmental agencies any time they discharge inadequately
treated sewage.
"This plan will make sure that treatment facilities warn the public when they
dump sewage into local waterways," said Stoner. The plan also will commit the
EPA to take enforcement actions against sewer authorities that fail to properly
maintain or upgrade their facilities.
Inadequately Treated Sewage Poses Significant Threat
Health experts estimate that there are 7.1 million mild-to-moderate cases and
560,000 moderate-to-severe cases of infectious waterborne diseases in the United
States annually. Many of these cases are caused by exposure to sewage.
Untreated sewage contains a variety of dangerous pathogens, including bacteria
(such as E coli ), viruses (such as hepatitis A), protozoa (such as
Cryptosporidium and Giardia ) and helminth worms. The pathogens in sewage can
cause illnesses ranging from diarrhea and vomiting and respiratory infections to
hepatitis and dysentery. Small children, the elderly, cancer patients, and
others with impaired immune systems are the most likely to get sick.
Besides the obvious health threat, inadequately treating sewage has long-term
environmental and economic consequences. Sewage in waterways kills fish and
destroys shellfish beds. And it is the second largest known cause of U.S. beach
closures and advisories every year.
"Our plan, which EPA adopted today, not only will help keep Americans healthy,
it will help keep our economy healthy," Stoner said. "And it shows that we can
work together to get the job done."