Great Lakes Water Protection Act
Two U.S. representatives from Illinois have announced legislation that could quadruple fines for cities that release sewage water into the Great Lakes. The legislation would also start a fund to help pay for wastewater treatment and wetland restoration.
The Great Lakes Water Protection Act proposes increasing penalties for cities that violate Environmental Protection Agency regulations from up to $25,000 to up to $100,000 per violation per day by 2027.
About 24 billion gallons of sewer overflow water are released each year into Lake Michigan. Detroit alone releases more than 13 billion gallons of waste per year. Detroit follows state and federal regulations with untreated water that is released into the Detroit River and flows into Lake Erie. But, Detroit has spent more than $1 billion on upgrades to its sewer collection system in the past 15 years. Officials will break ground next year on a 7-mile underground tunnel to capture excess flow during wet weather.
In April, the overflow of sewage and storm water from combined sewers into Milwaukee area waterways totaled 399 million gallons. The overflows go into the Milwaukee, Kinnickinnic and Menomonee rivers after heavy rains which flow into Lake Michigan.
July 9, 2007 6:46 AM | Category: Lake Michigan