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Sierra Club Takes Action to Protect Communities from Sewage OverflowsA federal judge has ruled that the Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) must clean up its act. The MSD, which had previously been discharging over 14 billion gallons of sewage overflow into waterways like the Ohio River, was ordered to increase its sewer capacity and take other significant steps to reduce sewer overflows. Residents whose homes, basements and businesses were flooded with sewage during these frequent overflows will be compensated by MSD. In addition, the EPA has made stopping sewage in basements a national priority in order to clean up rivers. Thanks to Sierra Club activists, residents of Greater Cincinnati are on their way to a cleaner, healthier community.
Victory on Sewage DumpingIn response to an Environmental Protection Agency proposed policy that would allow sewage treatment plants to routinely discharge inadequately treated sewage into our lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters, Sierra Club launched a campaign to stop this proposal. Every year, millions of Americans get sick from contact with inadequately treated sewage that ends up in water that we swim in or drink. We need less sewage in our waters, not more. Sierra Club joined state environmental agencies in Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Washington, as well as the American Public Health Association, public health officials, shellfishermen, marina operators and tens of thousands of others to fight this proposal. On May 19, 2005, clean water advocates won a great victory over the Environmental Protection Agency's misguided proposal to allow sewage treatment operators to dump barely treated sewage into lakes and rivers anytime it rains! Representatives Stupak (D-MI), Shaw (R-FL), Pallone (D-NJ) and Miller (R-FL) were building support for their amendment to prevent the EPA from finalizing the guidance. Faced with the prospect of losing a floor vote in the Republican-controlled House, EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Ben Grumbles issued a statement saying that the EPA had decided not to finalize the November 2003 proposal. 
Photo licensed to Sierra Club; used with permission. Up to Top |
Sewage and stormwater runoff are among the nation's largest sources of water pollution. Lack of investment in maintaining municipal sewerage systems and insufficient political will to curb new sewage hook-ups results in more sewage than many sewerage systems can treat, especially when stormwater enters the system. Sprawling forms of development, with ever-increasing acres of impermeable surfaces, generates more stormwater than treatment systems can handle.When investments in infrastructure do occur, more often than not, the money goes toward new development rather than upgrading and maintaining current infrastructure. As a result, untreated or poorly treated sewage often backs up in basements and flows into waterways.