U.S. Sewage
Systems Going Down the Drain
An estimated $1 trillion over 20
years is needed to fix the problems.
By Marceia Lathou
for Office.com
Aug. 18, 2000 — The sewage
infrastructure in the United States is old and getting
older. In some cities, the failure of aging sewer pipes
has created a crisis characterized by sewer backups,
pipeline collapses and sewage spills.
The Water Infrastructure Network — a
coalition of elected officials, water agencies and
environmental groups — projects $1 trillion will be
needed over the next 20 years to repair old sewage
systems and build new ones.
"Cities are doing the best they
can, but what we need is to raise awareness of
incorporating a new style of management," said John
Millett, spokesman for the D.C.-based Association of
Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies. "The old style was
a huge infusion of cash every 20 years or so. We need to
level out those investments, to ensure that we get the
most out of federal money if it becomes a reality."
No city is more familiar with the
environmental damage caused by faulty sewers than
Atlanta. The city has a combined sewer system, in which
a single collection pipe is used to convey both storm
runoff and sanitary wastes. During heavy rainstorms,
sewer overflows are so common that millions of gallons
of untreated sewage passes into the Chattahoochee River.
"When storm water overflows the
sewers, you literally have raw sewage coming out of
manholes, sewage grates and all over and going right
into the river," said Kelly McCutchen, executive VP
of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a nonprofit
government watchdog group.
"When storm water overflows the
sewers, you literally have raw sewage coming out of
manholes."
— Kelly McCutchen, executive VP
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Atlanta's sewer problems are the
result of years of neglect and poor design, McCutchen
said.
"It's not just any one
administration," he said. "It's been long-term
neglect by several mayors. Infrastructure starts to fall
apart if you don't maintain it and constantly put money
into it."
In 1997, a U.S. District Court judge in
Atlanta found the city liable for discharging sewage
with high levels of fecal material and other pollutants
into area rivers and streams. The city subsequently
agreed to pay $3.2 million in fines and $27.5 million to
clean those waterways and preserve riverbank property.
It also agreed to replace part of its sewer system.
Industry observers say urban sprawl
inevitably leads to deforestation and an increase in
concrete and asphalt surfaces, a trend that increases
stormwater runoff and sewage overflows. Trees Atlanta, a
nonprofit tree-conservation group, estimates that the
Atlanta metropolitan region has lost 65 percent of its
heavily forested areas in the last 25 years.
Atlanta sewage officials could not be
reached for comment.
Local governments currently foot 90
percent of the bill for sewage infrastructure
improvements, while the federal government kicks in 10
percent, according to the Water Infrastructure Network.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the federal government
split the cost evenly with local governments. Network
executives want Uncle Sam to increase its funding share.
"If we can achieve a cost-share
arrangement like we had back in the 1970s and 1980s,
that would really help leverage local money in a very
important way," Millett said.
Besides lobbying for more federal
funds, the network is working with municipal wastewater
treatment agencies to do more.
"It's about ensuring capacity to
ensure environmentally sensitive growth," Millett
said. "We don't want funding needs preventing new
growth from hooking into centralized wastewater
treatment systems."
Related Links
Water
Infrastructure Network
Georgia
Public Policy Foundation
Association
of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies
Trees
Atlanta
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