Sewage and Our Kids: How Much is Too Much?

Can you really keep kids away from the neighborhood stream? Hardly! Do you want to keep kids away from it? No! Kids enjoy the water whether they are fishing, exploring, or just skipping stones. It is a natural part of growing up.

But the streams in many of Indiana’s older neighborhoods often contain raw sewage from overflowing sewer systems. The bacteria count is often more than 100 times the standard. And no one should be exposed to “floatables.” These overflows threaten kids as well as the integrity of the neighborhoods. 

Therefore, protecting kids from the raw sewage comes from combined sewage overflows has become a top priority for Improving Kids’ Environment. While a right-to-know for parents to protect their kids still is at the core of our efforts IKE has taken a broader strategy because of the severity of the problem, especially in Indianapolis. IKE has taken the following actions:

• Presented a right-to-know proposal to the Inter-Municipal Wastewater Treatment Task Force on Aug. 13, 1999. The Task Force, made up of leading Indiana cities, took no action on the proposal.  A version of this proposal was added to SEA-431 in the 2000 Session of the Indiana General Assembly.  IDEM must adopt rules by September 1, 2001.

• Coordinated a 20-minute multi-media presentation that included a digital slideshow at four October public meetings on the City of Indianapolis’ wastewater discharge permit/variance. The Sierra Club, Audubon Society, and Hoosier Environmental Council joined IKE in making the presentation. This is apparently the first time that IDEM has allowed concerned citizens to make a formal presentation at a public meeting on a permit. The presentation effectively conveyed to the hundreds of participants the severity of the problem and got enthusiastic support.

• Filed a civil rights complaint with EPA against the City of Indianapolis for the city’s management of its combined sewer system on Oct. 20. This is the first-ever civil rights complaint related to CSOs in the nation. Without alleging intent, the complaint cites discriminatory effects on the Fall Creek and White River neighborhoods. The Hoosier Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and the prestigious Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, as well as neighborhood organizations, have signed onto the complaint. Congresswoman Julia Carson has been instrumental in making concerns heard.

• Initiated analysis of sewer systems in other municipalities to determine if there have been discriminatory effects. This intensive effort requires strong local activist support.  Thanks to a grant from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Fund work has begun on Indiana's waters in the Great Lakes Basin.

• Requested that IDEM explain its interpretation of the sewer ban regulations that bases combined sewer system capacity on dry weather flow instead of the actual flow in the sewer that includes storm water. The law requires that capacity be based on "hydraulic" capacity of the sewer.

• Establish a scoring system to evaluate the Long-Term Control Plans submitted by Indiana's 106 CSO Communities.

• Coordinating a Hoosier Health:  Sewage in Our Streams conference on January 19, 2001to discuss the public health impacts of combined sewer overflows and failing septic systems.