Conservation groups are criticizing a move by the Environmental Protection Agency to relax sewage discharge rules. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports, there’s disagreement about what impact the change would have on water quality and public health:
Transcript
Conservation groups are criticizing a move by the Environmental Protection Agency to relax sewage
discharge rules. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Sarah Hulett reports, there’s disagreement
about what impact the change would have on water quality and public health:
The EPA says during heavy rains, sewage plants can’t handle the excess wastewater. So it wants
to allow plants to divert some water from the second step in the treatment process. That’s the part
when microbes break down pathogens that can harm public health.
EPA officials say the process is safe. They say the partially treated sewage would be blended with
fully treated water. And they say it would have to meet water quality standards.
But Nancy Stoner with the Natural Resources Defense Council says those standards only protect
against bacteria – not viruses or parasites. She predicts the policy would have a serious impact on
public health.
More people will get diarrhea and vomiting, they’ll get respiratory illness. They may even get very
serious illnesses, like Hepatitis A, that are carried in sewage.”
The EPA says the practice is already widespread at many treatment plants. The agency will take
public comment on the proposal until early January.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Sarah Hulett.