Aug 9, 2007

Quote from Thursdays New York Times



Most of New York City’s 6,000 miles of sewage lines are dual use; they handle rain runoff as well as sewage and industrial wastewater in the same pipes, before delivering the mixture to the city’s 14 wastewater treatment plants. Heavy rains perennially overwhelm the pipes, causing the flow to back up, dumping everything from fecal matter and household trash to industrial pollutants like oil, grease and heavy metals into the city’s waterways and streets.

About 40 billion gallons of rain and sewage water per year to overflow onto city streets and into waterways, leading not just to transportation headaches but also to serious health and environmental hazards as the overflow spills raw sewage, trash and pollutants. The overflow also pollutes the waterways around the oceanfront and is blamed for the poor water quality around the city’s beaches. For the rest of the article, click here

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