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Around the State: Sewage Spills, Business as Usual?

Around the State: Sewage Spills, Business as Usual?

It’s just seven million gallons of raw sewage dumped into one city’s streams — merely “concerning,” but certainly not a “crisis.”

Raleigh’s aging wastewater lines dumped millions of gallons of sewage into four city streams after last week’s heavy rains. To city utilities officials, it’s business as usual after modernization funding requests were cut back to a fraction of the system’s needs.

It’s true that any city that doesn’t maintain an aggressive program of scheduled sewage line repair, replacement, and expansion will face growing failures over time — especially any growing city like Raleigh. As with transportation infrastructure, water and sewer systems are not free, and they’re not cheap. However, the failure to maintain them as needed produces dangerous pollution of public waters and neighborhoods.

In 2016 and 2017, there were 136 reported sewage overflows in eastern North Carolina alone. Cape Fear Public Water Authority in Wilmington was the worst offender, with 29 reported spills during that time, followed by Brunswick County’s 22. Those are far from the only examples.

Is your city keeping up its sewage collection and treatment system? With climate change-driven weather events becoming increasingly unpredictable and severe, this is a good time to pose that question in your communities. If your local elected representatives can’t answer your questions about your water and sewer infrastructure, ask them to check and get back to you. It’s a good conversation to start.

Up next, Another Chance for Red Wolves >>

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