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Sewage leaks remain dirty little secret

BY TIM BISHOP

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) is a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

September 7, 2007

When raw sewage is in our water supply, do we have a right to know?

The federal Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 860 billion gallons of raw or partially treated sewage is spilled every year into America's lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters.

Did you know about this problem? Chances are you didn't. That is because there is no national standard for notifying the public and laws vary from state to state.

In May, more than 7 million gallons of sewage spilled into the lower Hudson River because of a rupture in a Yonkers sewer main. At the start of the spill, the Westchester County Health Department put out an early press release estimating the spill at only 2 million gallons and did not update that figure in later advisories. If not for the hard work of several newspapers in the area, the public never would have known the dirty little secret of just how massive this spill was.

New York law requires operators to contact the state Department of Environmental Conservation in such cases, but there is no requirement to directly notify the public.

This isn't just a New York problem. More than 200,000 gallons of sewage flowed right into Tampa Bay, Fla., last June, but residents say they didn't know about it until TV reporters showed up on their doorsteps.

A quick review of HealthyRivers.org, the Web site of a coalition of conservation groups that monitors sewage pollution, shows that stories like these have occurred across the country, stemming from blocked pipes, sewer line breaks, storm water flooding and malfunctioning pumping stations - primarily in publicly owned and operated facilities.

Last summer, an E. coli outbreak in spinach sickened 200 people, killing three of them. Almost immediately after the problems began to surface, the Food and Drug Administration notified the public. Bagged spinach was pulled from store shelves, restaurants yanked it from their menus, and the news media went into full coverage. It is an example of public notification done right. How many people might have gotten ill or died if the FDA had left everyone to their own devices to find out about the problem?

Yet that's exactly what Americans are left to do every day when it comes to sewage. Meanwhile, population growth is adding more sewage to the system as President George W. Bush has been cutting funding for clean-water infrastructure and upgrades to handle increased flow.

We're all paying the price. Each year, the EPA estimates that up to 3.5 million people get sick from recreational contact with sewage from overflows. The most conservative estimates show that we spend more than $4 billion a year treating those afflicted by sewage pollution. There are no precise figures, but we know that for some of the most vulnerable parts of the population - the very young, the very old or those with compromised immune systems - a waterborne illness can be deadly.

Drinking the water or swimming in it doesn't have to be a guessing game.

There are solutions working their way through all levels of government, including proposals to increase funding for improved infrastructure. Regarding public notification, I have introduced legislation that would require sewage-treatment operators to monitor their facilities and inform the public of any overflows that could endanger human health. They would have to report all overflows within 24 hours to the state and follow up with a written report explaining the duration and volume of the overflow and steps taken to mitigate the overflow and prevent recurrence.

States would have to make an annual report to the EPA on all sewer overflows. Under this legislation, monitoring and public notification of sewage overflows would be eligible for funding under the existing Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

Although some sewer operators are opposing the bill because they prefer to avoid responsibility for putting public health at risk, support is growing across the country for fixing the system.

We deserve better than having to wonder, "What's in our water?"

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.

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