Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
Progress Made, But Billions Needed for Sewage Control
WASHINGTON, DC, August 30, 2004 (ENS) - The amount of sewage overflow in the
United States is diminishing, a report to Congress from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) says, but billions will have to be spent over the next
20 years to control two types of overflows, the agency said.
"Impacts and Control of Combined Sewer Overflows and Sanitary Sewer Overflows"
calls for an estimated $88 billion to handle combined overflow - sewage and
rainfall combined during storms - and $50.6 billion for sanitary sewer overflows
alone.
The agency says that 3,500 to 5,500 gastrointestinal illnesses per year on
coastal and Great Lakes beaches alone are caused by sewage overflows, and the
number is expected to rise when other types of waterways are included.
The Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) noted the possibility
for "a meaningful federal-state-local partnership" in the report. AMSA is a
national trade association representing hundreds of the nation’s publicly owned
wastewater treatment utilities that serve the majority of the sewered population
in the United States
The EPA estimates that the annual volume of sanitary sewer overflows is between
three and 10 billion gallons – two orders of magnitude smaller than the 311
billion gallon per year figure it had estimated when developing the draft
sanitary sewer overflow rule.
With this in mind, the AMSA members are asking for more "a more flexible policy
on sanitary sewer overflows" as they say they are making progress and have done
well controlling the number of combined sewer overflow events.
AMSA members collectively treat and reclaim over 18 billion gallons of
wastewater every day as "environmental practitioners dedicated to protecting and
improving the nation’s waters and public health."
Sewer systems that were built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in U.S.
cities in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region overflow when the combined
volume of sewage and storm water exceeds the capacity of the systems, which were
designed to discharge directly into rivers, streams or coastal waters.
Sanitary sewer systems do not combine storm water with wastewater. Sanitary
sewer overflows have a number of causes: blockages, pipe breaks, defects that
allow storm water or groundwater to enter the system, inadequate operation and
maintenance, equipment or power failures, and vandalism.
Overflows of both types contribute to beach closures, shellfish bed closures and
contamination of drinking water supplies because they discharge untreated
wastewater that contains microbial pathogens, suspended solids, toxics,
nutrients, trash, and pollutants that deplete dissolved oxygen.
Outflow enforcement against seven major municipalities has resulted in the
elimination of 14 billion gallons of sewage overflows per year, more than $10.8
million in fines and more than $75 million in environmental improvement
projects, the EPA estimates.
Since 2002, EPA has settled sewer overflow cases with Los Angeles, California,
Baltimore, Maryland, Baton Rouge, Louisana, and Hamilton County/Cincinnati,
Ohio.
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