SEWAGE/WASTEWATER⇨ RIVER/STREAM

What’s the Story?

Now that is gross! Wastewater that is meant to travel to sewage treatment plants to be filtered and disinfected sometimes gets released directly into waterways like rivers! Yikes. Because rivers flow, the pollution is diluted and flows downstream. Today, this is typically due to an accidental overflow, like a CSO (combined sewage overflow). Intentionally releasing wastewater and sewage into rivers was very common prior to the 1970’s and the passage of the Clean Water Act. It is hard to believe that most of this highly contaminated water, including from large cities and toxic industries, was continuously released into waterways like the Hudson River! Many of the dangerous chemicals and “legacy pollutants” that are still found in the Hudson River are from these former industries that dumped their wastes for decades. While there is still more to do, through years of stewardship and advocacy, environmental protection rules have been passed and cleanups have helped to restore these vital habitats.

Click on your water drop above to travel to the River/Stream next!!