Sewage Control

From Great Lakes Wiki

There have recently been twenty cities surround the Great Lakes that have “an appalling record of handling their sewage” (Gorrie, 2006). Reporter Peter Gorrie wrote an article today (Nov 29, 2006) listing a couple of the cities with horrible grades, marked by a group studying the Great Lakes’ water management.

Toronto, for example was graded a “C.” The best score among these Canadian and U.S. urban centers was Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a marking of a “B+”. Detroit received the worst grade, a “D” (Gorrie, 2006). An article from CBS news, “Sewage Seeps into Great Lakes,” by Joe Fivas, states: “Most municipal systems in six Great Lakes states that combine stormwater with domestic and industrial sewage haven't met minimum federal standards for preventing such discharges, nor have they received approval for long-term plans to control overflows, the report said.” (2005)These sewage overflows cause highly potential health risks, as the Great Lakes provide our drinking water. Fivas also remarks, “The pollution ranges from bacteria, viruses and parasites to metals such as mercury and lead” (2005).

“It is estimated that the 20 cities — home to about one-third of the 35 million residents of the Great Lakes basin — dump more than 90 billion litres of untreated sewage into the lakes each year, the report says” (Gorrie, 2006). Unfortunately, only about 1% of the water flow changes each year, reports Gorrie. This leaves most of the pollution in our Great Lakes.

In 1997, nine steps were created, and made mandatory, for communities to follow regarding water clean up. However, nearly 62% of these communities have failed to follow them. “Only Michigan and Indiana require immediate reporting of overflows” (Fivas, 2005). Even so, the regulatory commissions in these areas do a horrible job inspecting and punishing communities for violating these rules. The CBS report states the reason for this lack of water clean up, is money. Therefore, the government will need to lend its support soon if we wish for any resolve. Unfortunately, the Bush administration “made a recent proposal to cut a federal loan program for upgrading treatment plants from $1.09 billion this year to $730 million in fiscal 2006” (Fivas, 2005).

Resources

Gorrie, P. (2006, November 29). Toronto gets 'C' for sewage control. Retrieved November 29, 2006, from http://www.thestar.com

Fivas, J. (2005, May 18). Sewage Seeps Into Great Lakes. Retrieved November 29, 2006, from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/18/tech/main696171.shtml

Related Pages

Combined sewers
Pollution