- A Bush Administration proposal to routinely allow partially
treated sewage into America's waterways could face a roadblock in Congress
next week, when the House of Representatives is expected to vote next week
on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget. Included is the opportunity
to support the Save Our Water From Sewage Act.
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- The bipartisan amendment to stop increased sewage dumping
would block EPA from finalizing a proposal that allows an increase in the
use of "blending", a process where partially treated waste is
dumped into lakes, rivers and streams.
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- Currently under the Clean Water Act, partially treated
sewage may be released only in a dire emergency, such as a hurricane. Otherwise
the process known as blending is illegal, and waste treatment must be carried
out in three phases -- first screening for solids in the waste, second
phase removing most of the viruses, parasites and other pollutants, and
the third phase treating sewage for bacteria.
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- If the EPA proposal is finalized, anytime it rains or
during snow melts, sewage treatment facilities would be allowed to forgo
the second phase of water treatment, which neutralizes viruses and pathogens
in the wastewater and aids in the effectiveness of the third phase of treatment.
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- Supporters of the Bush Administration blending plan,
including sewage treatment plant operators, say that blending will fill
the gap in inconsistencies in sewage enforcement. But public health advocates
find this unacceptable. "Everyone lives downstream of somebody's sewage
treatment," says Nancy Stoner, clean water director at the Natural
Resources Defense Council. "So we all face a threat to our health,
economy and environment if EPA lets wastewater plants routinely discharge
largely untreated sewage into our lakes, rivers and streams." [1]
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- The EPA proposal also helps treatment facilities skirt
the cost of upgrading, a costly affair, especially since funds for modernization
of sewage treatment plants received a substantial cut in the 2005 EPA budget.
[2]
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- The partially treated sewage would flow directly into
lakes, rivers and streams -- carrying with it deadly parasites, viruses
and bacteria, including dysentery, cholera, e coli, hepatitis, and gastroenteritis.
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- The Center for Disease Control reports that each year
the health of 8 million people is adversely affected by water contaminated
with sewage waste, and 900 people die each year from illnesses related
to exposure. [3]
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- Under the proposed rules, exposure levels will increase
if blending becomes regular practice. Dr. Joan Rose, a Michigan State University
professor, explained that there is a 50% chance of getting sick from swimming
in an area adjacent to a sewage output point where only the first and third
stage of treatment are used, whereas the risk is less than .1% from swimming
in an area where second stage treatment and disinfection is used. [4]
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- In the long run, blending has costly financial consequences
as well: loss of revenue from beach closings, increased costs for treating
drinking water, public health and medical expenses, and harm to fish and
wildlife.
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- Even EPA's own water chief, Ben Grumbles, voiced doubts
about blending: "The basic point, which is at the heart and soul of
the Clean Water Act, is that dilution is not the solution to pollution.
You need to treat the sewage. Blending isn't the solution." [5]
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- TAKE ACTION Contact members of Congress and ask them
to protect the Clean Water Act. http://action.lcv.org/campaign/sewage01
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- SOURCES: [1] Natural Resources Defense Council fact sheet.
http://www.nrdc.org/media/docs/050511.pdf [2] "Sewage Blending Policy,"
Clean Water Action fact sheet, Jan. 2005. http://cleanwateraction.org/backgrounder2.htm
[3] Ibid. [4] Ibid. [5] NRDC release, May 11, 2005. http://www.nrdc.org/media/#0511sew
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- Copyright © 2003 Environmental Media Services
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- http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000264.php
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