Pipeline of trouble: Aging sewer systems pose threat to health

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2008 | by Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith

America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis shows.

The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data found that since 2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been fined for violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten local drinking water and kill aquatic animals and plants.

Local governments across the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing wastewater systems -- some of which are more than 100 years old -- over the next 10 to 20 years, EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said.

Those improvement efforts face a huge...