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Greens Urge the EPA to Dump New Waste Blending Proposal.Thursday, February 10, 2005 Contacts: ELECTED GREENS URGE THE EPA TO DUMP NEW WASTE BLENDING PROPOSAL WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party elected officials today called the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed waste blending policy a poor substitute for the investment in infrastructure required to protect the nation's water supply. The EPA is considering allowing publicly owned sewage treatment facilities to blend partially treated wastewater into sewage outflow whenever necessary such as during heavy rainstorms or snowmelts. Previously they could only do it during emergencies. The risk of disease from blended waste can be much greater than from fully treated waste. "This new policy will release harmful waterborne pathogens into our water supply and endanger the health of our most vulnerable populations - children, and the sick and elderly," said Gray Newman, Chair of the Mecklenburg County (NC) Soil and Water Conservation Board and co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "We all live downstream from somebody," Mr. Newman added. "People have a right to clean water and depend on our public facilities to guarantee it. We demand the EPA live up to the promise of its name and reject this misguided proposal." Unchecked development, population increase, and changing weather conditions have contributed to overload antiquated pipes and water treatment facilities, some of which are 50-100 years old or more. The EPA estimates the necessary investment in infrastructure to be approximately $200 billion. In the budget he submitted Monday, President Bush recommends cutting the government fund that makes low interest loans to improve sewer systems down to $730 million, almost half of the original amount of $1.34 billion appropriated in 2004. The budget would also cut water infrastructure funding to $69 million from the $408 million appropriated by Congress last year. "The answer to the problem is not to relax laws that protect our water supply, but to invest the necessary resources toward fixing the problem," said Nan Garrett, Georgia Green and Spokesperson for the National Women's Caucus. "The President has spent $152 billion on the Iraq War, not including interest, while local governments struggle for funding to provide the most basic of services." Global warming has contributed to the sewage overflow problems, with rainfall increasing an average of 10% over the last century in North America, and concentrated more in heavy downpours that overtax sewer systems. Extreme precipitation events such as floods have increased nearly 20 percent, with most of the increase occurring since 1970. "The refusal of Republicans and Democrats to take necessary steps to reverse global warming guarantees that local governments will continue to take the brunt of the consequences," said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, a director on the Humboldt Bay (California) Municipal Water Board and Green Party member. "The Green party supports a nationwide effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. We also support the election of Green officials who will advocate for our local needs and not be subverted by corporate campaign contributions." "Sustainability means that we will have resources available for our benefit and enjoyment 100 or 1000 years from now, and not destroy them for short-term profit," said Paul Perkovic, Board of Directors, Montara (California) Water and Sanitary District and Green Party member. MORE INFORMATION The Green Party of the United States Proposal: "Blending of Effluent at Publicly
Owned Sewage Treatment Facilities" "Bush Cuts EPA Budget by 6 Percent, Seeks to
Cut Water Programs"
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