Facts
about sewage in the United States
- - The nation's 1 million mile network of
sewage pipes is designed to carry roughly 50 trillion gallons
of raw sewage daily.
- Most Americans are served by sanitary sewer
systems, where storm water and sewage are conveyed in separate
pipes. Between 3 billion and 10 billion gallons of untreated
sewage is released from these systems each year, primarily
during heavy rains.
- About 40 million Americans in 746 communities,
primarily in the Northeast and Midwest, are served by combined
storm water and sewage systems, many of them with pipes that
are more than 50 years old. About 850 billion gallons of untreated
sewage and storm water are released from these systems each
year.
- Between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people
get sick each year from swimming in waters contaminated by
sewage overflows, and an additional 500,000 get sick from
drinking contaminated water.
- Sewage overflows were responsible for 14
percent of reported beach closings and health advisories during
the 2002 swimming season for which there was a known cause
of pollution.
- The annual number of outbreaks of gastroenteritis
related to swimming increased sharply between 1980 and 2002.
- In the reefs off the Florida Keys, 70 percent
of elk horn corals have been wiped out by white pox disease,
which is caused by human intestinal bacteria.
- North Carolina state officials have documented
several fish kills attributable to sewer overflows since 1997.
- In 2003, New Jersey state officials banned
harvesting in more than 30,000 acres of shellfish growing
areas in the Raritan Bay after a large sewage overflow.
- U.S. medical costs associated with eating
sewage-contaminated shellfish range from $2.5 million to $22
million each year.
Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources
Defense Council, Environmental Integrity Project, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
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