Few things are as beautifully refreshing as a summer swim. Clear, cool water, the lull of chirping birds, and the bubbling of fecal matter. According to the EPA, sewage overflows deposit nearly 860 billion gallons of sewage in America’s local waterways annually.
A Right to Know for Clean Waters is a campaign to tell Congress that the public should be notified when sewage pours into our waterways.
If you want to know the next time there’s a massive sewage dump (no pun intended) in your local lake or river send an email to your Member of Congress and ask them to support Right-to-Know legislation.
Your voice will help flush out (no pun intended again) the issue of secret sewage spills. Hopefully change will come about and we can go back to enjoying those summer dips, canoeing, paddling, fishing, and floating aimlessly without worrying about e. coli.
I will do this for sure; I grew up wanting to swim in the Hudson River but it was considered too dirty at the time (it’s swimmable now!). Now I live next to LI sound and there are plenty of people who just won’t swim there no matter what, which seems so sad. I swim, but not after it rains! Thankfully my town, which is on the water, invested in new sewage treatment technology last year and the water seems cleaner all the time now! I def. support this!
07/25/07 » 9:08 am »
Overflows are definitely unfortunate. However, new federal initiatives, such as CMOM, will hopefully help to alleviate such problems. I’m a Civil Engineer in Alabama, and in my city, we’re implementing the program, which has resulted in new pipes and improved flow monitoring. These new pipes have drastically reduced the amount of inflow and infiltration we’ve seen during big rain events.
Most municipalities don’t invest enough money in updating and improving their existing infrastructure. Maybe this will begin to change in the near future.
07/26/07 » 8:18 am »