igan awash
e r 0 erflo
•
Ie
•
In
LANSING- Michigan as­
�:tewller treatment plants and m­
strie discharged enough
e-rootamiDaled
year to fill 900,000 ttaidcutial
• · pools, acxudiDg to a
reeeet tudy.
To help clean up the poblem,
tate ide hearings ill be
cheduled this � on a bill
introduced by Rep. William Van
Regenmorter, R-J . 00.
The study, - Michigan's
Sewer Crisis: Tbe Problml and
ov
Last year, 20 billioo gall
f:l raw ewage and toxic
ere dumped' into Micbig ,
aterways. A recent study
released by Public Sedor' Coo­
ul in Lausing Udcated that
mo t of their sewage con-
taminated wate was con­
centrated in 70 Michigan cities
and counties. Among them are.
-Belding
-Detroit
- East Lansing
-Farmington
-GI in
-Grand Rapids
-Grosse Poi Farma
-Grosse p. Par
-Grosse p. Shores
- ooroe
- t, PI
Cle
- iles
-Oakland County
-South acomb
S nitary District
-w y ecounty
OUL G our
e, - Van Regen-
dre­
qurie . cities to notify
dOtfDS1tream commUDiti
eoverfl . It
redquire citi to . t 112
fex- eYtzy gallOll ptled iJm
. ,
a vings account used for
upgrading their sewage sy
Van Regeomorter said
Strict time schedules fex- im­
poviDg age sy ould
be implemented. If violated, the
city ould pay a fiDe, which
ould go into existing state
fund used for envirOJUDental
clean- UP.S, he said
The state Department of
Natural Re ource al 0 is
lUtrictiDg the amo' of ra'
ew e aDd toxic aste dumped
into Michigan's waterway, . d
Steve Homi, DNR envirolunm­
tal eagincer.
To msclwge aste in water­
ays, city govemmen must
apply fex- five year permi .­
ued by the DNR's Water
Resources Commi"ioa, he said
. THESE ECENT PER·
MITS th t e've issued to
Detroit d other citi are ad­
dressing combined ewage
overflow for the first," Itimi
aid
Combiucd sewage overflow
are cischrges storm and sanitary
ewers.
'These combined ewer sys­
tems flow into wastew ter
tieatmCDt plants, which treat the
w ter before cischarging it into
rivers and lakes.
But when it raiDs some pants
are DOt le to treat the additioo­
al w tewater fast euough aod
have to divert the UDtreated w -
tewater into nearby waterways.
Most of the 70 cities cited in
the study have combiDed sewer
systems. In some of the sy tems
tudied, only one-tenth of an
inch of rain can cause an over­
flow. All of these systems are
more than 30 years old, but
ome are over so.
RAW EW AGE, pesticides,
PCB' , lead, c dmium, mer­
cury, oil, grease, fertilizers,
deterg aDd other . hi
w tes are discharged during
overflow, often prompting
fi bing and health advisories.
Cont ct with co laminated
water can cause stomach and in-
testinal iefectioes, D8 fever
and ciarrbca. In extreme es,
it can ca typb.
But under current , cities
have combined er over-
flo s are not required to DOtify
ueighboriDg commODities. Last
year, 43 health advisories were
reported, the ely • d,
Finding money to update
er sy is a problem, . d
George Goodmen, executive
director of the Michigan
MODicipal�
need for a cleaner environment
with the Deed for fmanciog,- he
said -'Ihci fecbal govemmen
aud tate govCl'DJDCDt are going
to have to came to the . lance
of local govCl'lUDCllts.-
. By the Year 2010, some ys­
tems will serve twice the
population they were designed
to erve, the study said Separat­
ing the combined sewer systems
statewide would cost cities an
estimatM $3.1 billion. By the
year 2000, the cost of separ tion
would jump to about $5 billio .
Although combined sewer
overflows are a st tewide
malady, Detroit is the largest
part of the problem because it
. beats tewater for abo 40
outlying communtites, said
Riclwd J , ex­
ecutive director of Michigan
. United Conservation Clubs in
LaasiDg.
• (.Detroir sy tem) is one of
the biggest polluter on the
Great lakes,- he said
EVE Y Y A ,DETROIT
dumps S to 6 millioo gal-
I eX un ed ewage and
toxic aste into waterway
every year, the study said
. Detroit appealed its DNR
pmDit Dec. 18, claiming com­
pliance with the more stringent
regulatio ould be too dif-
ficult, said mi, who drafted
the permit On Feb. 22, the DNR
Water Resources Commi ion
iiI' hear the appeal. .
The permit Iimi COIl-
ceotrations of lead, cadmi
mercury PCBs peel iDto
·d V
diJect« rJ. the
N· Wddlife Federation'
Great Lake office in Ann
Arbor. It also requires the city to
draft pi fex- construction of
additional i and pump sta­
tions to help prevent ewage
overflows.
If the city does DOt meet pan­
ning deadlines, it i subject to
S25,OOO in fines every day, he
aid
Undec the permit, the Qty of
DQtroit al 0 is required to con­
trol industrial dumping by forc­
ing indushies to treat their own
w instead of civerting them
to the w te ttl treatment
plan Van id,
·We w Detroit to comply
with the control that almost
everyone el e in Michigan has
complied with," he said,
The more restrictive DNR
permits such the one Detroit
w s is ued are necessary to
remedy theproble VanPutten
·d
-Enforcing .e permit
isn't going to clean up water
quality, - said
I
This Week In Black
History
March 4-10
MA CH 4, 194. - The
United. Negro College Fund
founded. 1954 - J. Ernest
Wilkins named a si tant
secretary of labor by President
Eisenhower.
CH 5, Dr. James Der­
ham of Ne Orle was the
fir recorded Black physician
in the U.S. 1770 - Crispus At­
t first to die in B on M -
ere,
MARCH 6, 1791 - Tho
DoWning was born and saved
e York Herald fro
bankruptcy. 1940 - WdlieStar-
gell;basebaU player born.
eH 7,1 - Cens
Blacks outnumber . es in S.
Caf(�lina and ... . 1965
- Police halted Selma-to­
Montgomery m rch to have
been led by Martin Luther Kieg,
Jr.
CH ,1974 - Cool
P p Bell, star of old Negro
League , named to B eball
Hall of Flame. 1977 - Henry L.
Marsh, III elected mayor of
·chmond, Va.
CH 9, The CHARLES­
TON, LINDY, HOP, Jl1TER­
BUG and 1WIST originated
Black dances. 1963 - Carl T.
Rowan appointed amb dor
to Finl d.
cn 10, 1972 - t N -
tional Black Political Conve _ ..
. openedinGary,Ind.on .
day. 1913 - Harriet Tubm
Underground Railro d "con­
d or", died.
•