-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 4:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TAKE ACTION: STOP EPA's SEWAGE DUMPING PROPOSAL





URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS TO OPPOSE THE EPA'S SEWAGE DUMPING
PROPOSAL AND ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO CO-SPONSOR H.R. 1126, THE SAVE OUR
WATERS FROM SEWAGE ACT

The next month is a critical time in which the EPA may to decide whether or
not to finalize its proposal to allow the routine discharge of inadequately
treated sewage into our waters.  The EPA is promoting a policy that would
allow sewage operators to mix sewage that has been filtered but not treated,
with fully treated sewage and then discharge it into downstream waters.  The
EPA calls this process of mixing fully and barely treated sewage "blending."
If the EPA finalizes the sewage plan, our lakes, rivers, streams and coastal
waters will receive more viruses, parasites, toxic chemicals and other
pathogens found in sewage.

However, if enough pressure is brought to bear against the EPA's sewage
dumping plan from the public, Congress, environmental groups, public health
professionals, local elected officials, and others who care about clean and
safe water - the EPA may decide to reconsider, or be forced to withdraw, its
proposal.

Opposition to the EPA's policy is already widespread and growing, including
state agencies in Florida, Massachusetts, Georgia, Connecticut, Michigan,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, as well as the International
Association of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Mayors, Pacific and East Coast
Shellfish Growers Associations, and the National Fisheries Institute.

In addition, a bipartisan letter from 135 members of Congress was sent to
the EPA in February urging the agency to drop its proposal.  Unfortunately,
in response these members of Congress received what amounts to a form letter
from EPA.

In March, four House members, Bart Stupak (D-MI), Clay Shaw (R-FL), Mark
Kirk (R-IL) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) introduced the Save Our Waters from
Sewage Act (H.R. 1126).  The bill would: prevent the EPA from finalizing
their sewage dumping policy; require the agency to enforce existing Clean
Water Act rules that only permit "blending" in rare instances; and require
public disclosure of discharges of inadequately treated sewage.

Currently, the Save Our Waters from Sewage Act has 90 cosponsors that span
the political spectrum.  We need to dramatically build that opposition from
members of Congress quickly in order to force the EPA to abandon its
proposal.  To do that, we have one key ask for Sierra Club's Clean Water
Activists.

TAKE ACTION:

Please send a letter to or call your Representative and Senators asking them
to oppose the EPA's sewage policy and asking your Representative to
cosponsor the Save Our Waters from Sewage Act (HR 1126).  To see if your
Representative has already cosponsored the legislation, go to
http://thomas.loc.gov, type "H.R. 1126" into the Search Field and check out
the Bill Summary and Status.

We want to flood Congress with opposition to the EPA's policy (and support
for a Congressional solution) from as broad and diverse an array of
interests as possible.  It shouldn't be too hard, because NOBODY WANTS MORE
SEWAGE IN THEIR WATER!!

We need your letters and calls as soon as possible, and our goal is to have
as many letters as possible by May 11th.

Below is a short "fact sheet" about EPA's sewage dumping (or "blending")
policy to help you with your calls and/or letters.  I can also provide you
with a model letter to Members of Congress urging co-sponsorship of the Save
Our Waters from Sewage Act, as well as information on the human health risks
associated with sewage pollution, its impacts on fisheries and shellfish
health, and comments your state's health and environment agencies may have
sent to EPA during the comment period on the proposed dumping policy to
include in your letter.

Please e-mail or call Navis Bermudez ([log in to unmask] or
202-675-2392) if you need any assistance.

EPA DRAFT SEWAGE DUMPING POLICY (May 2005)

What is the draft sewage dumping policy?

      EPA's draft policy relaxes restrictions on discharging inadequately
      treated sewage into waterways during rain events. It would allow
      sewage treatment plants to discharge sewage that has been diverted
      around secondary treatment units during wet weather.  Because the
      largely untreated sewage is mixed with treated sewage before
      discharge, EPA refers to this as "sewage blending."  Specifically, it
      permits the discharge of sewage that has had no biological treatment
      to kill pathogens and remove other pollutants.

Who supports it and why is it being proposed?

      Sewer authorities have convinced the Bush administration that the
      answer to insufficient maintenance of aging sewer systems is to allow
      sewage to be discharged without effective treatment during rainfall
      when it can be diluted.  They claim that weakening current sewage
      treatment requirements will resolve "inconsistencies in regional
      enforcement" and avoid the cost of upgrading treatment facilities.

Why is this a bad idea?

      Sewage dumping is bad for public health.  Sewage is filled with human
      wastes, industrial chemical waste, and commercial wastes containing
      grease, toxins, bacteria, viruses, parasites, intestinal worms,
      pharmaceuticals, hormones and antibiotics.  "Blended" sewage has
      significantly higher levels of these pollutants than sewage that has
      undergone full treatment.  Sewage that has not been fully treated is
      filled with bacteria, viruses, and parasites that carry diseases,
      such as cholera, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, respiratory infections,
      and dysentery.  These illnesses can be life threatening for small
      children, the elderly, cancer patients, and others who are already
      weakened by disease. Experts estimate that 8 million Americans get
      sick every year from polluted water.

      Sewage dumping is bad for the economy and the environment.  Allowing
      polluters to discharge inadequately treated sewage into our nation's
      waters will have adverse, long-term environmental consequences.
      Sewage in our waterways closes beaches, increases the cost of
      drinking water filtration, feeds toxic algal blooms, damages coral
      reefs, shuts down shellfish beds, and robs the water of oxygen that
      fish need to breathe.

      EPA's sewage dumping policy is illegal.  The Clean Water Act and its
      implementing regulations require sewage to be fully treated prior to
      discharge under routine operating conditions.  EPA's proposed sewage
      dumping policy sewage does not meet current treatment requirements,
      and EPA has taken several enforcement actions against sewer operators
      in which EPA has clearly stated that sewage dumping violates the CWA.

Because EPA's sewage dumping policy would increase sewage pollution and
threaten public health, the proposed guidance has provoked a firestorm of
protest.  Among those weighing in against the proposal are state agencies in
Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Washington, as well as the International Association of
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Mayors, the American Public Health Association,
the Pacific and East Coast Shellfish Growers Associations, the National
Fisheries Institute, and the Children's Environmental Health Network.

_______________________________
Navis Bermudez
Washington Representative
Clean Water Campaign
Environmental Quality Program
202.675.2392

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