Florida PIRG (Public Interest Research Group): help protect America's waterways

[Guest guest]

Dear Florida PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) supporter,

 

While over 40% of the waterways in the U.S. are too polluted for fishing or swimming, the Bush administration is moving forward with a policy to allow more sewage to be dumped into our rivers, lakes and beach waters. This policy weakens clean water protections and poses a serious threat to public health.

 

Please take a moment to tell the EPA to withdraw the sewage dumping policy and strengthen clean water protections. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this email to them. To take action, or paste it into your web browser:

 

http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=2 & id4=ES

 

BackgroundIn the U.S., 300,000 miles of rivers and shorelines and 5 million acres of lakes do not meet minimum water quality standards. Rather than cleaning up the water, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed allowing sewage treatment plants to dump inadequately treated sewage into our waters during rain storms. The policy, which the EPA refers to as "blending", would permit sewage treatment plants to mix partially treated sewage with fully treated waste and dump that mixture into waters, including drinking water sources and fish habitat.

 

This policy not only poses a serious threat to public health and the environment but also violates the Clean Water Act. Exposure to untreated sewage makes people sick, causes beach closings, contaminates shellfish and kills other fish. For almost 30 years, the Clean Water Act has mandated the biological treatment of sewage. Sewage dumping bypasses this biological treatment, allowing bacteria, viruses and parasites to end up in our waterways. Children, the elderly and people who are already weakened by cancer and other illness will be most harmed by increases of these disease causing organisms.

 

The public has reacted strongly against allowing more sewage in our waters. In 2003, when the EPA first proposed sewage dumping, state environmental agencies, public health officials and tens of thousands of citizens made comments against the policy. Despite this opposition, the EPA is preparing to finalize the sewage dumping policy.

 

Please take a moment to tell the EPA to protect public health and the environment by withdrawing the sewage dumping policy. Then ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this email to them. To take action, or paste it into your web browser:

 

http://pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id=2 & id4=ES

 

Sincerely,

 

Mark FerruloFlorida PIRG DirectorMarkFhttp://www.FloridaPIRG.orgP.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and friends.