Wednesday, November 25, 2009

When it rains, it pours crap

From the NY Times:

One goal of the Clean Water Act of 1972 was to upgrade the nation’s sewer systems, many of them built more than a century ago, to handle growing populations and increasing runoff of rainwater and waste. During the 1970s and 1980s, Congress distributed more than $60 billion to cities to make sure that what goes into toilets, industrial drains and street grates would not endanger human health.

But despite those upgrades, many sewer systems are still frequently overwhelmed, according to a New York Times analysis of environmental data. As a result, sewage is spilling into waterways.

In the last three years alone, more than 9,400 of the nation’s 25,000 sewage systems — including those in major cities — have reported violating the law by dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere, according to data from state environmental agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency.

But fewer than one in five sewage systems that broke the law were ever fined or otherwise sanctioned by state or federal regulators, the Times analysis shows.

It is not clear whether the sewage systems that have not reported such dumping are doing any better, because data on overflows and spillage are often incomplete.

As cities have grown rapidly across the nation, many have neglected infrastructure projects and paved over green spaces that once absorbed rainwater. That has contributed to sewage backups into more than 400,000 basements and spills into thousands of streets, according to data collected by state and federal officials. Sometimes, waste has overflowed just upstream from drinking water intake points or near public beaches.

There is no national record-keeping of how many illnesses are caused by sewage spills. But academic research suggests that as many as 20 million people each year become ill from drinking water containing bacteria and other pathogens that are often spread by untreated waste.

A 2007 study published in the journal Pediatrics, focusing on one Milwaukee hospital, indicated that the number of children suffering from serious diarrhea rose whenever local sewers overflowed. Another study, published in 2008 in the Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health, estimated that as many as four million people become sick each year in California from swimming in waters containing the kind of pollution often linked to untreated sewage.

Around New York City, samples collected at dozens of beaches or piers have detected the types of bacteria and other pollutants tied to sewage overflows. Though the city’s drinking water comes from upstate reservoirs, environmentalists say untreated excrement and other waste in the city’s waterways pose serious health risks.

11 comments:

Mike Bloomturd...Mayor for Life said...

Hey folks! Gather around and hear the plan. We're going to build and build and build until the sewer pipes burst! Then the city will be full of shit...just like me!!!!!!!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

(I'm laughing all the way to the bank)

Taxpayer said...

Overdevelopment. Illegal conversions. Sanctuary for more than a million illegal aliens.

All these uncounted rectums, emitting waste into an ancient sewer "system" are the cause of this overwhelming problem.

But, hey, Commissar, why not allow more of the same? It will never affect your delicate dwarf sized frame. After all, where will all your serfs be housed id not in sewage-filled structures?

Anonymous said...

At least there was some poetic justice served when Melinda Katz experienced a basement full of shit in her Forest Hills home when local sewers backed up last year.

As queen/courtesan of NYC's building/real estate industry...taking most of her campaign contributions from that group...it serves her right!

I'd like to think of our builders' slut C.M. "alley" Katz in hip wading boots trout fishing in crap!

Anonymous said...

"Uncounted rectums"....my, my, my....Bloomfuhrer has surely wrecked our city!

Anonymous said...

Yep....those Latino burritos sure make you shit a lot!

Derriere said...

"Uncounted rectums"

Ha Ha
Anus the truth! The hole truth. And nothing butt the truth!

Anonymous said...

Willets point, by FAR is gets the worst flooding of ANYWHERE in Nyc.

gov. arnold schwarzenegger said...

Ja, I know fart you mean.

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha
Anus the truth! The hole truth. And nothing butt the truth!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

CHEEKY!

Syn: Astorian = F*ken Moron said...

I am so glad that the rezoning in Astoria will control development.

See the big circles near Astoria?

Does that mean we cannot handle the people that are here? No problem!

How do I know? The Gazette, Peter, and the Community Board have said so.

Besides, the developers will pay for infrastrucrure for the additonal 100,000, right?

Anonymous said...

Remember the movie WATERWORLD?

Pretty soon we'll be doin' our own recyclin'...if ya catch my meaning.