St. Louis
Sewage Spills. While unpleasant, sewage spills are a common sight in St. Louis, whose outdated and dilapidated sewage system, dating back to the 19th century, serves about 1.4 million custom-ers and covers the entire city and 90 percent of the county.
• Lawsuit. In 2007, EPA sued the St. Louis metropolitan sewer district last summer, claim-ing these spills violate the Clean Water Act and threaten public health.
- The lawsuit alleges that more than 500 million gallons of raw sewage poured into St. Louis waterways from 2000 to 2005.
• Water Quality. EPA‚ most recent assessment of the Big, Cahokia-Joachim, Lower Missouri, Meramec, Upper Mississippi-Cape Girardeau, Upper St. Francis and Whitewater watersheds found 100 individual impairments to water quality, including fecal coliform bacteria, other pathogens and solid trash.
High improvement costs. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has made great strides to improve its system, but it believes that many of the needed repairs are cost-prohibitive. The grand total to comply with the EPA mandate could top $4 billion.
- $1.3 billion already spent to reduce the number of overflows by 300
- $1 billion planned over the next five years to upgrade the system.
• Federal Funding is Missing. The district hopes that federal and state grants can soften the blow of the expensive repairs needed to comply with federal orders
Rates. While recognizing the need to rejuvenate the system, district officials worry that the costly projects will drive sewer rates beyond people‚ budgets.
• Sewer rates. The district operates nearly 10,000 miles of piping, making it the fourth largest sewer system in the nation.
- Rates have increased by 60 percent over the last few years and a 64 percent hike is proposed for the next 5 years.
- The district‚ executive director has said that its customers can expect to see sewer bills quadruple from about the current $25 a month to at least $100 ‚in the not too distant future.”
• Water Prices. With piping dating back 160 years, the water division must continually repair and replace its water lines.
- 19 percent increase in March 2008, increasing the typical household bill from $16.51 to $19.60 a month.
- But this is nothing compared to the 30.5 percent rate hike Missouri American Water , a subsidiary of American Water, the largest U.S. water corporation , is seeking for St. Louis County, increasing its average customer bill by $6.83 to $29.19 a month.
Great Drinking Water. St. Louis water meets or exceeds all federal and state regulations. In fact, it has never violated a quality regulation in 102 years of testing.
• Of the 150 possible contaminants that the city tested for, only 14 were detected
• St. Louis has the best tasting water in the country, according to a blind taste test competition by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The city took home the ‚Best Tasting City Water in America” award in 2007.
• Bottling St. Louis Water. St. Louis water is inexpensive and tastes great, and bottled water corporations have taken notice.
- PepsiCo buys St. Louis water at far less than a penny a gallon, filters it, bottles it and sells it for $1.25 a liter.