Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The experience of Charles Moore at Seal Beach in southern California
in 2000 illustrates the problem. A sewage spill had occurred in an inland
city upriver, sending virulent microbes downriver and into the shallow
surf offshore. No warning signs were posted. The bacteria infected a
not-quite-healed sore on his elbow and caused a potentially fatal skin
infection. He was hospitalized for a week with fl uid oozing from an arm
swollen to double its size.
In March 2006, the Hawaii Department of Health had to shut down
Honolulu's Waikiki beach for about a week following a major sewer
spill. The microbe-contaminated waters were blamed for several illnesses
and implicated in the death of a man who became infected with fl esh-
eating bacteria. In addition to the medical problems, there were severe
economic repercussions statewide. Waikiki accounts for nearly half of
Hawaii's tourist business and expenditures, which were about $5 billion
in 2002.
The effect of heavy rains is well illustrated in California. The state's
2006 annual quality report gave Huntington Beach all A's in dry weather
but C's or lower in wet weather. The same disparity occurred in nearly
half of the 356 California beaches included in the study. Between 627,000
and 1.5 million cases of beach-related gastroenteritis occur annually in
Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The National Resources Defense Council counted more than 20,000
days of beach closure and advisories in 2005 in the twenty-nine ocean
and Great Lakes states. The organization attributed this increase of 5
percent over 2004 to burgeoning coastal development and a year of
heavy rainfall, which caused extra sewage runoff. Probably improved
monitoring and additional aging of sewer pipes also contributed.
The American Society of Civil Engineers said in 1999 that the
nation's 500,000-plus miles of sewer lines were thirty-three years old
on average.
22
Sewers in Newark, New Jersey, which date back to
1852, are so old that they are listed in the National Register of His-
toric Places. The EPA estimates that as much as $400 billion in extra
spending is needed over the next decade to fi x the nation's sewer
infrastructure. The federal government has not yet addressed this
problem (fi gure 2.2).
As an example of the cost of sewer maintenance to residents in a city,
I can cite Portland, Oregon, which has some of the highest water and
sewer rates in the country. The average residential sewer bill in the city
has risen from about $14 a month in the early 1990s when the city began
mandated improvements to $45 a month in 2007.
