While states deal with growing backlogs, their sewers are backing up. Most of our current clean water systems were installed in a very different time, when populations were smaller and safety standards less rigorous. These systems have not kept pace with societal developments and are often inadequate to handle the demands of the modern world.

Following passage of the landmark Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts, the Environmental Protection Agency issued safety standards regulating the presence of a variety of hazards, including lead and copper, fecal coliform bacteria, protozoa, pesticides, disinfectant residues, and solid wastes.

These regulations are largely to thank for the huge drop in annual waterborne illness outbreaks seen over the past century.³⁷ But although regulations have prevented countless illnesses and saved lives, their presence does little good when the physical systems they police fail.

Even the best regulations cannot prevent illnesses when pipes burst and sewers overflow, releasing contaminated water before it has been treated. Since the late 1980s, degrading distribution systems have caused an increasingly high percentage of waterborne disease outbreaks, now accounting for well over half the yearly totals. The majority of these outbreaks occur in small communities.³⁸

The gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms resulting from infection by fecal coliform bacteria are extremely unpleasant for most adults, but in children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems, they can be deadly.

Although direct outbreaks and illnesses are the most immediate consequences of faulty infrastructure, poorly performing clean water systems have a widespread negative impact. Sewage-contaminated water sickens swimmers, taints drinking water, and poisons seafood, which is then eaten by humans, leading to more illnesses – as many as two million per year. When systems break down, the resulting sewage overflows poison our environment, turning our beaches and waterways into toxic waste dumps.

Overflows occur more frequently in systems that combine wastewater and runoff. These combined sewers frequently cannot handle the volume of dirty water introduced by heavy storms and end up discharging contaminated water directly into rivers, streams, lakes, and onto beaches. Combined sewer overflows – between 23,000 and 75,000 per year – spill a staggering 1.26 trillion gallons of untreated water and its attendant filth, bacteria, and toxic chemicals every year, requiring $50.6 billion in cleanup costs.^39,40

EPA has determined that 45 percent of waterways across the country do not meet water quality standards, and more than half of assessed river miles were designated impaired in 19 states.⁴¹

When sewage spills onto beaches, local communities must issue advisories and close them to swimmers, boaters, and fishermen. These closures do more than keep overstressed Americans from relaxing and having fun; they rob coastal and lakefront communities of the crucial tourism dollars that form the backbone of their local economies.

Coastal areas are by far the United States’ most lucrative tourist attractions. Tourism produced 1.67 million jobs and $13.8 billion in wages in 2000, and $117 billion was contributed to the national economy by ocean activities.⁴²

Sadly, inadequate clean water systems are progressively unable to keep these areas pristine. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, in 2006 there were more than 25,000 closing and health advisory days at beaches across the country – 28 percent more than in 2005 and the highest number seen in the 17 years NRDC has kept statistics.⁴³

Sewage spills and overflows were confirmed as directly responsible for 1,301 beach closures and advisories, 402 more than in 2005 and also the highest number on record.

More than 15,000 closure or advisory days were caused by elevated bacteria counts of undetermined origin. According to NRDC, “Sewage or stormwater discharges usually cause elevated bacteria levels, but efforts to determine the causes of increased bacteria levels have not kept pace with new or more frequent monitoring practices.” ⁴⁴

NRDC’s most recent beach closings report revealed:

• Ohio had a total of 629 advisory days in 2006, reflecting an increase of more than 300 percent since 2005. Great Lakes beaches alone were the subjects of 170 such advisories. Every single one of those advisories was sourced back to elevated bacterial counts due to stormwater overflows.
• Illinois beaches were closed 591 times last year, up for the second consecutive year. Two of those closures were permanent. Ninety-eight percent of the closures were due to elevated bacterial counts introduced by stormwater.
• Following a year of high rainfall, Rhode Island closed coastal beaches 78 times in 2006. Among a set of 28 beaches that had been sampled at least once a week in 2006, closings and advisories jumped from 57 days in 2005 to 240 days last year. All the issuances were due to elevated bacterial counts.
• Indiana beaches experienced 111 closure/advisory days in 2006, including 28 for the state’s eight Tier 1 beaches. That number counteracts progress seen in 2005, when the number of issuances dropped from 21 to 17. Seventeen closures and advisories were issued after known sewage spills, 86 to elevated bacterial counts sourced to unknown causes, and one was issued in anticipation of a coming rainstorm.   

Beaches in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Minnesota sustained the most damage, but closures and advisories were issued in 29 states. These events can only be expected to grow more frequent – and more severe – if we do not invest in the systems intended to prevent them.

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