Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
Activists' Report Criticizes EPA Policies On Sewage Treatment, Seeks More Funds
Environmental activists called on the federal government Feb. 19 to establish
a trust fund to help pay for needed upgrades to reduce the amount of
inadequately treated sewage released into rivers and streams.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Integrity Project
issued a report accusing federal regulators of cutting Environmental Protection
Agency funding to pay for wastewater treatment needs while considering a policy
that would allow for partially treated sewage to be released into waterways
during wet weather.
"In too many communities across the land, pipes are broken or leaking, systems
are overloaded, and treatment is sometimes bypassed," the report, Swimming in
Sewage, said. "The result is that in this most technologically advanced nation
on the face of the planet, raw sewage backs up into people's homes with
disturbing frequency, and is routinely permitted to flow into bodies of water
that are sources of drinking water."
While the groups' criticisms of federal regulatory efforts on sewage overflows
and increased discharges of inadequately treated wastewater during wet weather
is not new, the call for a trust fund to provide a dedicated source of money
similar to that to pay for airports and highways is. It also represents an area
of agreement between NRDC and groups such as the Association of Metropolitan
Sewerage Agencies, whose members include large publicly owned treatment works,
who have also been pushing for clean water trust fund.
"We have a looming public health crisis on our hands that will take billions of
dollars to fix," Nancy Stoner, an NRDC attorney, said.
Budget Cuts
The report criticized the Bush administration for proposing a $500 million cut
in fiscal year 2005 for the state revolving fund, a loan program that helps pay
for wastewater treatment infrastructure. The amount is the same as was requested
for the past several years and is always increased by Congress to $1.35 billion.
NRDC and other environmental groups have been particularly critical of a draft
policy issued by EPA that would allow sewage treatment plants to route a portion
of excess flows created during heavy storms around the secondary treatment stage
before recombining it with the fully treated wastewater and discharging it (29
DEN A-9; 2/13/04 ).
The practice, known as blending, has been used since the 1970s, AMSA officials
have said, and is necessary to prevent the excess flows from storm events from
washing out the secondary, or biological, treatment process. If blending were
banned, treatment officials said, additional storage capacity would have to be
built to hold the excess flows until they can be run through the treatment
system, an option that Ken Kirk, AMSA's executive director, said could cost up
to $200 billion and would be paid by ratepayers.
If EPA issues the guidance in final form essentially allowing blending as long
as six principles are followed, environmental groups, public health advocates,
and some state officials said they are concerned it will remove the incentive
for treatment plants to upgrade their facilities or build the needed extra
capacity. Several large utilities, such as those in Milwaukee and Chicago, have
already built large holding areas that can store millions of gallons of
wastewater until it can be treated. Other cities such as Washington, D.C., are
considering such a plan, which is projected to cost about $1.2 billion.
Inadequate Data
The NRDC report said there is little data on the frequency of sewer overflows
and no accurate figures on the number of people made ill from waterborne
disease. The groups recommended EPA and the Centers for Disease Control work
together to fill in the data gaps on exposure to waterborne pathogens, which
would include the frequency of sewer overflows, pathogens present in the sewage,
and disease outcomes of exposed individuals.
AMSA officials also want more study on the problem because treatment officials
said there is little data to actually link human health impacts to discharges of
raw sewage.
While the NRDC report maligns AMSA for a February 2003 letter to EPA, saying
public health would be better served by "spending money on a national hand
washing program than by controlling raw sewage overflows," treatment officials
said their data show more illnesses caused by exposure to pathogens in swimming
pools and hot tubs.
EPA is expected to issue a Report to Congress on the Impacts and Controls of
Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) and Sanitary Sewer Overflow in March. Required
under the fiscal year 2001 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 106-554), the
report will attempt to quantify the volume, frequency, impacts, and costs
associated with sewer overflows.
AMSA said only two cases of waterborne illness have a documented link with
exposure to pathogens from sanitary sewer overflows and none from combined sewer
overflows (166 DEN A-4, 8/27/03).
"Our point is there needs to be a stronger showing and a stronger link made," an
AMSA spokesman said.
The report from NRDC and EIP cites studies from the Centers for Disease Control
and Johns Hopkins University showing increases in the incidences of waterborne
illness from recreation in rivers, lakes, and streams.
"The increase is attributed both to better reporting of these infections and to
an actual increase in the number of people becoming ill," the report said.
"Scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health report that the
majority of waterborne illnesses in the United States are associated with heavy
rain storms."
Sewage Release Inventory
Inadequately treated wastewater discharged after storms can contain pathogens,
such as giardia and cryptosporidium, industrial wastes, and nutrients that can
deplete oxygen supplies, the report said.
NRDC and EIP also recommend EPA establish and "Sewage Release Inventory" modeled
on the Toxic Release Inventory used by industrial facilities to report on their
emissions of hazardous chemicals.
"A similar database of sewage releases could spur significant, voluntary
reductions in raw sewage releases by making public the quantity, frequency, and
impact of sewage overflows from particular sewer authorities," the report said.
"Sewage authorities, local governments, and states with the highest number and
volume of overflows nationally or regionally would likely be spurred to action
to get out of the public spotlight. Conversely, others might be inspired by the
opportunity for public recognition of good performance."
An AMSA spokesman said that while wastewater officials do not agree with many
conclusions in the report, it does show that the utilities and the activist
community need to work together to push Congress to authorize and fund a clean
water trust fund.
The NRDC/EIP report, Swimming in Sewage, is available at http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/sewage/contents.asp
on the World Wide Web.
By Susan Bruninga