EPA Report Illustrates Serious Sewage Pollution Problem in New York and New Jersey (NJ, NY)
(New York, N.Y.) Controlling sewage that gets
washed into local waterways when it rains is critical to protecting
water quality. Rainwater flows down storm drains, carrying
pollution from the streets, and if it is a heavy rain, causes
sewage to overflow into rivers, lakes and streams. Sewer overflows,
especially from combined sewer systems that carry sewage from
buildings and stormwater from street drains, are a major
environmental problem. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has
prepared an important report, Keeping Raw Sewage and Contaminated
Stormwater Out of the Public’s Water, to answer commonly
asked questions about combined sewer overflows. To read or download
a copy of the report, visit http://www.epa.gov/region2/water/. To see an illustration of how serious a problem this
is in Brooklyn, go to:
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/sewage-overflow-in-new-york-believe-it/.
Many of the sewer systems in New York State and
New Jersey and some in Puerto Rico are combined systems that carry
sewage from homes and businesses as well as rainwater collected
from street drains. When they overflow during heavy rains, the
rainwater mixes with sewage and results in raw sewage being
directly discharged into water bodies. These discharges are called
combined sewer overflows and can pose serious environmental and
public health risks.
“Clean water is vital to people’s
health and our economy and is a priority for the EPA,” said
EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. “We’ve seen
improvements in water quality since the passage of the Clean Water
Act forty years ago, but there is much more to be done to protect
our rivers, harbors, lakes and streams. EPA’s new report
provides important information on the laws that protect our
waterways and the actions that can be taken to reduce water
pollution.”
The following is a sample of the information
contained in Keeping Raw Sewage and Contaminated Stormwater Out of
the Public’s Water:
Many communities have separate sewer systems for
wastewater collection – an independent sewer system that
carries sewage from buildings and another for rainwater, also
referred to as stormwater. The stormwater is sent directly to
lakes, rivers and streams, while domestic sewage is transported to
wastewater treatment plants, where it is treated to remove
pathogens and other contaminants.
Combined sewer systems, on the other hand, are
designed to transport sewage, industrial wastewater and rainwater
runoff in the same pipes to wastewater treatment plants. They are
remnants of the country’s early infrastructure and are
typically found in older cities. Combined sewer systems serve about
40 million people in roughly 772 communities nationwide. Most
communities with combined sewer systems are located in the
Northeast and Great Lakes regions, and the Pacific
Northwest.
Most of the time, combined sewer systems are
able to transport all of the wastewater to a treatment plant, where
it is treated and then discharged into a water body. During periods
of heavy rainfall or snowmelt, however, the volume of wastewater
traveling through a combined sewer system can exceed the capacity
of the sewer system or treatment plant. For this reason, combined
sewer systems are designed to overflow occasionally and discharge
excess wastewater directly to nearby streams, rivers, lakes or
other water bodies. These overflows, called combined sewer
overflows, contain not only stormwater but also pollutants such as
untreated human and industrial waste, toxic materials and
debris.
Stormwater contains pollutants, including oil,
grease and toxic substances, picked up as rain washes across roads
or fields. These pathogens, solids and toxic pollutants may be
discharged directly to local waters when it rains, resulting in a
discharge that exceeds water quality standards. They pose risks to
human health, threaten aquatic habitats and life, and impair the
use and enjoyment of the nation’s waterways.
Under the federal Clean Water Act, combined
sewer discharges are prohibited without a permit. In December 2000,
Congress amended the Clean Water Act by adding a section that
requires each permit issued for a discharge from a municipal
combined sewer system to “conform” to a national
combined sewer overflow policy. The policy is a comprehensive
national strategy to ensure that local governments, permitting
agencies, entities that establish water quality standards and the
public engage in a comprehensive and coordinated planning effort to
achieve combined sewer overflow controls that ultimately meet
health and environmental standards.
For more information about requirements of the
Clean Water Act and how EPA protects the nation’s water,
visit http://water.epa.gov/.
Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/eparegion2.
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