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Photo courtesy John Winters Thanks to The Boren Foundation, and Jack and Karen Kay Leonard for making this website possible. |
For more information on IKE's efforts to reduce sewage in our streams |
Hoosier Health: Sewage in Our Streams
Conference - January 19, 2001
Review of the Conference and Presentations Made
Summary of Common Water-Borne Pathogens
| We anticipated 50 participants and hoped for 120. We were amazed when 160 people attended the conference. They wanted to go beyond the federal mandates to understand the public health threat and how to communicate this threat to the public. Based on the enthusiastic response, I think we now realize the tremendous gains to public health, especially children’s health, that would be achieved if we aggressively dealt with the problem of CSOs and failing septic systems. Tom Neltner We anticipated 50 participants and hoped for 120. We were amazed when 160 people attended the conference. They wanted to go beyond the federal mandates to understand the public health threat and how to communicate this threat to the public.Based on the enthusiastic response, I think we now realize the tremendous gains to public health, especially children’s health, that would be achieved if we aggressively dealt with the problem of CSOs and failing septic systems. Tom Neltner , IKE Executive Director |
Children playing in streams downstream from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) or failing septic systems are at risk of getting severe infectious diseases such as shigellosis, Hepatitis A, and cryptosporidiosis. If residents have an infectious disease that can be waterborne, the parasite, bacteria, or virus that caused the disease is likely to be in the stream. This impact is partly as a result of our reluctance to rise to the challenge of upgrading CSOs and septic systems. Indiana has 106 CSO communities and hundreds more with failing septic systems — even a light rain can cause contamination.
Admitting there is sewage in our streams is major step toward addressing the problem. Fortunately, 160 people took that step and gathered on January 19, 2001, at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum to attend the Hoosier Health: Sewage in Our Streams conference. They came to discuss the public health implications of sewage in Hoosier streams. And they recognized that E. coli is not the problem. It is only the indicator we use to determine if fecal matter is present. The list of organisms that pose the threat read like a Latin exam. See box on page 6 for a list of primary hazards resulting from these pathogens.
Tom Neltner of Improving Kids’ Environment was the lead organizer for the conference, helped by a planning committee that included Dr. Bill Beranek of the Indiana Environmental Institute, Steve Hall representing the City of Fort Wayne, Rosy Hansell of the Marion County Health Department, Brian Neilson of Triad Engineering, Jennifer Ruby of the City of Indianapolis, Dr. Art Umble of the City of Elkhart, and Dick Van Frank of A.W. Butler Chapter of the Audubon Society.
The City of Indianapolis and Eli Lilly and Company provided critical financial support to allow more than 60 people attend the conference on scholarships. The Indiana Environmental Institute and IDEM also sponsored the conference.
