What is the danger to public health from sewer overflows?
Untreated sewage contains microbial pathogens and toxins that may make people sick through direct skin contact or if ingested. Although it is clear that sanitary sewer overflows contain disease-causing pathogens and other pollutants, EPA has limited information on actual health impacts occurring as a result of sewer overflows as discussed in the EPA Report to Congress, Impacts and Controls of CSOs and SSOs. Additionally, the majority of the volume released by sewer overflows occurs during severe storms, when fewer people are likely to come in contact with contaminated waters. If there is little direct data on human health impacts from SSOs, why is this such an important issue? HRSD’s mission is to protect public health and the environment, and we are working closely with the Hampton Roads localities to minimize the amount of untreated sewage that gets out of the regional system for any reason. Clean water is our goal and reducing overflows is a critical factor in meeting that goal. Add