Last week I talked about the scarcity of sewage spill stories from certain states and how the lack of coverage doesn't exactly mean these states are free of spills. Rather, these are places where public notification requirements are so lax these spills aren't reported. As promised, I have another striking trend to highlight, which is the ineffectiveness of the "public warnings" issued by many of the states that do manage to at least report their spills.

It's definitely a step in the right direction for authorities notify the public when a sewage spill occurs. After all, a little info is better than no info at all. But what shocks me, as reflected in a couple of this week's spills, is when a sewage spill is reported in the news but the authorities fail to issue public safety advisories. How is this possible? I suppose the hope is that common sense will prevail and people will just know to not go in waters with sewage in it. Still, the willful decision to neglect warning the public about the danger of coming into contact with sewage-infested waters is absurd. I suppose it just re-iterates the point that we need a federal sewage right-to-know policy.

Now for the Spills of the Week:

Wa-poo-poo Lake: Oh man, here's a sewage spill story with every possible sewage problem imaginable.

- A sanitary sewage line improperly connected to a stormwater sewer line "routed food court toilets to the marsh near Wapato Lake, which meant waste from the mall leaked into the lake every time someone flushed the toilet." Where have we heard this one before?
- City officials "don't know how long the leak has been going on, because they haven't inspected the lines in 15 years."
- According to area resident, Patricia Ware, "Over the past summer, they had wildlife dying, fish, turtles, ducks, birds, just they found lots of them dead along the bay."
- And to top it all off, "the park never put out proper warning signs... There's actually swimming and fishing that go on around here. We talk to fisherman everyday on our walk around the lake," said Ware.
It doesn't get much worse.
- June 15, 2007: KOMO-TV, Seattle, WA

The Nation's Toilet Bowl: A busted sewage line in a Northwest Washington, DC sent raw sewage spilling into the streets and into the home responsible for the spill. Enforcement action is being taken against the homeowner.
- June 17, 2001: WRC NBC 4 - Washington, DC

Stormy Weatherford: Heavy rains in Weatherford, TX caused the city's sewer system to become inundated with water and led to floods and sewer overflows throughout the town, the worst of which did $85,000 of damage to a daycare center, forcing the child care provider to close its doors indefinitely.
- June 19, 2007: CBS 11 TV - Dallas, TX

Foul-Air, OH: A major storm caused sewage to flood homes in Bellaire, OH. Town officials are helping affected residents clean up and recover from the disaster.
- June 20, 2007: WTOV NBC 9 - Stubeville, OH/Wheeling, WV

Wal-Mart Dumps Again: Since February the Wal-mart in Madison, IN has been dumping raw sewage into its own backyard. Indiana officials have threatened to levy thousands of dollars in fines against the retailer for the sewage spills if it doesn't clean up its act in 90 days. The store blames vandals for the spills even though it has no proof to back up this accusation. The company has a history of not reporting sewage spills which is what motivated the state to investigate this problem in the first place.
- June 20, 2007: WTHR 13 Eyewitness News - Indianapolis, IN

Lake Pipe-burst: A pump failure sent 32,000 gallons of sewage into Lake Pinehurst in Moore County, North Carolina. Now for the absurd part of the story: despite tests revealing that fecal coliform levels exceeded health standards, no swimming warning was issued for the lake. Here's the rationale for not protecting the public's health according to NC Division of Water Quality Spokesperson Susan Massengale: "It was not extremely above the standard, it was somewhat above the standard. I would always use caution when swimming in lake water." Yikes! Does that mean there is always a risk of contracting e. coli when swimming in North Carolina's lakes? Right-to-Know save us please!
- June 21, 2007: Fayetteville Observer - Fayetteville, NC