Many communities in New York State, Connecticut, and throughout the nation are served by aging and dilapidated sewage infrastructure. When our sewage infrastructure is not properly operated or maintained, billions of gallons of untreated raw sewage can be released in to the environment before reaching a treatment plant. Sewage is primarily discharged into the environment through Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO) and Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO). Separate sewer systems carry only wastewater such as domestic sanitary waste and commercial and industrial waste to a sewage treatment plant. Separate sewers are not designed or intended to carry water such as storm water. SSOs occur in separate systems. Combined sewer systems are built larger than separate sewers so that they can carry two components: wastewater, carried continuously, and runoff, carried after storms.

Our sewer systems carry waste from domestic, commercial, and industrial users. Sewage can contain disease-causing microorganisms, floating human waste, toxic pollutants, oil, grease, pesticides, drugs, and other contaminants. In addition to posing public health risks, sewage is rich in environmental nutrients, like nitrates and phosphates, which degrade water quality and cause algal blooms, hypoxia, and fish kills.

Every New York State and Coastal Connecticut community is in the watershed of a major water body, such as the Niagara River, the Great Lakes of Erie and Ontario, the St. Lawrence River, the Mohawk, the Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson River, the New York City reservoir system, South Shore Estuary and the Long Island Sound. Our water resources provide drinking water for millions of residents, habitat for fish and wildlife, extraordinary recreational opportunities, and support billion dollar industries. Sewage pollution is a significant threat to the health of our valued water bodies and the public.

CCE works at the state and federal level to adopt stronger policies to eliminate sewage pollution, provide adequate funding for our sewage infrastructure, and mandate public notification when sewage overflows occur.

Sewage Overflows: The Public has the right to know

Healthy water bodies are essential to our health and our quality of life throughout New York and Connecticut. Whether it is for boating, fishing or swimming; we rely heavily on our waterways for recreation and tourism, and deserve the right to know when our beaches, waterways, and communities have been contaminated from sewage.

Many communities in New York, Connecticut, and across the nation are adversely impacted from sewage overflows. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, between 1.8 and 3.5 million Americans become ill annually from contact with recreational waters contaminated by sewage. Adverse health impacts from parasites, viruses, and bacteria found in raw sewage include short-term gastrointestinal problems, infections and fevers; and long-term chronic conditions such as liver, heart, or kidney failure; as well as arthritis and cancer.

Contaminants from sewage contribute to red and brown tide algal blooms, which can result in unhealthy fish populations and create serious health risks upon consumption. Sewage pollution also contributes to shellfish bed closures, as well as beach closures that are responsible for economic losses of $1 – 2 billion annually in the US. When our heavily frequented beaches and fisheries are put at risk of contamination, not only does the economy suffer, but members of the public are put at risk. The threat exists throughout New York and Connecticut.

Examples of the threat throughout New York:

Long Island

• In 2011, Hurricane Irene caused several sewage treatment plants (STP) to overflow, including Bay Park, Great Neck Water Pollution Control District, Village of Lawrence, and Long Beach STPs.
• In 2010 the Bay Park STP had several mechanical problems that lead to numerous sewage overflows. In one March event, over 3,500,000 gallons of sewage overflowed.
• On August 14, 2011 a raw sewage back-up caused untreated effluent to rush into homes and onto the roadway in Baldwin, NY. Ultimately the sewage discharged into Parsonage Creek, a tributary of the South Shore Estuary Reserve.
• Long Island Sound is a vital recreational, tourist, and economic resource; generating $8.5 billion to the regional economy annually.

Hudson River

• From 2006-2010, the Hudson River has failed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for safe swimming 21% of the time, which is three times the national average for beaches;
• Twenty-seven billion gallons of sewage enter New York Harbor each year and can end up traveling up the Hudson River;
• The Hudson River is supports a $4.7 billion tourism and recreation industry.

Western New York

• The Buffalo Sewer Authority allows more than four billion gallons of sewage to be discharged into local waters annually, which may cost upwards of $500 million to fix;
• The top nine beaches in NYS that had the most days that exceeded standards for contamination in 2010 were ALL Great Lakes beaches;
• In New York alone, the Great Lakes support four million jobs and a sport fishery worth $2.27 billion annually.

Examples of the threat throughout Connecticut:

• Over 140 beach closings/swimming advisory days were issued in Connecticut in 2010;
• As a result of Tropical Storm Irene in August of 2011, thirteen STP’s discharged untreated sewage into local waterways; and at least one STP did not resume treatment until a week after the storm;
• An overflow event in October of 2011 released over 40 million gallons of untreated sewage into Stamford Harbor, causing viral levels to skyrocket and shutting down shellfish beds for nearly a month.

There is currently no law requiring public notification if a sewage overflow has contaminated a local beach, waterway, or entered a community in either New York State or Connecticut. Often, immediately after a sewage overflow, people can be seen swimming, fishing, crabbing, or kayaking in the contaminated area. This is unacceptable! The public deserves prompt notification anytime a spill or discharge of partially treated or raw sewage occurs. Prompt and accessible notification about sewage overflows will allow the public to make safe choices for their families and avoid unnecessary exposure to harmful pollution!

How you can help:
Email your state representatives. Urge them to support a Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know law. Sewage overflows put our environment, economy, and health at risk; and we deserve the right to know when they occur.

Email tips:

• Include your name and address
• Focus your email on why you deserve the right to know when your local waterways or community are being negatively impacted by sewage overflows.
• Urge your representatives to pass a Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know law in 2012.
• Ask for a response.

Write to:

In New York:

• Identify and email your NYS senator
• Identify and email your NYS Assembly member
• Email Governor Andrew Cuomo

In Connecticut:

• Identify and email your CT state House representative and CT state senator
• Email Governor Dannel Malloy

Nassau County, NY, has recently launched an email notification system to notify residents when there has been a spill or leak from the sewage treatment system. Nassau residents: Get a list of past sewage overflows and sign up for email notifications.

Upholding the Promise of Clean Water: Providing funding for our aging infrastructure

With the passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA) nearly 35 years ago, Congress made a promise to protect and improve our nation’s water quality for current and future generations. Since the adoption of the CWA, clean water infrastructure investment has made significant improvements to local water quality, but significant investments are needed, as forty percent (40%) of our nation’s accessed waterways fail to achieve standards. Clean water is advanced through various federal grants and loan programs that address threats to our nation’s waters, such as sewage contamination and polluted storm water runoff. CCE works to provide full funding for federal programs that assist state and local governments to fulfill the promise of the Clean Water Act.

CCE’s campaign to provide funding for clean water infrastructure

Sanitary Sewer Overflows: Stronger regulations needed

A Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) is any spill or release of raw sewage from a separate sanitary sewer system before the sewage can reach the sewage treatment plant, regardless of whether the release is intentional or unintentional. SSOs are generally illegal. The issue of SSOs is important because, currently, federal and state regulatory programs are not effectively limiting the frequency and number of SSOs occurring nationally or locally.

Read CCE’s report, Sewage in the Suburbs – Long Island’s First Sewage Treatment Plant Report Card

Watch the video, "Sewage in the Suburbs":

Read the report, The Case for a Clean Water Trust Fund: New Realities, New Solutions, by Food and Water Watch

CCE’s campaign to increase funding to the New York State Environmental Protection Fund, a major source of funding for clean water in New York State

Updated by tbono 1/16/12