Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat News
The Newsletter of the Great Lakes
Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund
Volume 8, Number 4 • July-August 2000
Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat NewsThe Newsletter of the Great Lakes
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Improving Kids’ Environment is planning a conference in January 2001 to discuss the health related issues posed by CSOs and failing septics. Although it seems obvious to many environmental advocates, there is controversy whether bacteria from sewers is a serious problem. We plan on bringing in citizens and community leaders for the conference. WE REALLY NEED TO FIND A HIGH-PROFILE SPEAKER TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE. We can pay for travel. If we are to get mayors to spend billions of dollars they need to be confident that the investment will pay off in terms of public health and not just to make EPA happy.
Seven Indiana environmental groups have teamed up to develop a scoring system to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of Long-Term Control Plans that will be submitted by Indiana’s more than 100 CSO communities. The groups are: Audubon Society - Amos Butler Chapter, Grand Calumet Task Force, Hoosier Environmental Council, Improving Kids’ Environment (IKE), Save the Dunes Council, Sierra Club - Hoosier Chapter, and Valley Watch. Information on the system is posted at IKE’s webpage - http://www.ikecoalition.org/cso_scoring_summary.htm.
Through this system, we hope to help communities develop the plans so they are more likely to achieve the environmental and public health goals and to help residents understand how their community’s plan compares to other plans. A score of 100 is the goal. One neat feature is a table derived from an Indiana Department of Environmental Management document listing all 106 CSO communities, their scores, and their key information such as deadlines, community size, etc.. IKE is the lead on the system. So far the highest tentative score is 39!
Save the Dunes continues to work on minimizing the negative impacts of Senate Enrolled Act 431, passed earlier this year by the Indiana General Assembly. The bill promises relief to municipalities that discharge raw sewage through Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) during wet weather. It also provides relief from enforcement if communities are developing and implementing their Long Term Control Plan (required by the Environmental Protection Agency). We have joined with several other environmental organizations working with an attorney to explore possible legal strategies to challenge SEA 431. Simultaneously, Save the Dunes’ Tom Anderson is serving on the Wet Weather Technical Advisory Group, an outgrowth of SEA 431 charged with developing state policy for communities with CSOs. There are 106 communities in Indiana with CSOs, over 12% of the nation’s total! Each sanitary district with CSOs is required to develop a Long Term Control Plan (LTCP), which identifies the Nine Minimum Controls (NMCs) needed to satisfy EPA , and would form the basis for the Use Attainability Analysis (UAA).
The UAA would allow suspending “Designated Uses” and allow more pollution into the waterways. However, the purpose of a UAA is to outline steps needed to to restore the designated use and improve water quality. There is a big argument over what are “Existing” or “Designated” uses, although we are sure the Clean Water Act is clear on this issue. There are some that would like to say there are no “existing” uses and therefore they can suspend all designated uses. Our proposed legal action challenging SEA 431 is all the more important given the current direction of the policy guidance.
Save the Dunes Conservation Fund
444 Barker Road
Michigan City, IN 46360
PH: (219)879-3564
e-mail: sand@savedunes.org