The following letter appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Think about everything that's happened in your life in the past 365 days -- a birthday, the holidays and the Fourth of July. But when it comes to fireworks, it's hard to top the revelation that sewage has been pouring into the Youghiogheny for at least that long ("Sewage Pouring Into Yough," Jan. 17).

Investigators have told our organization that a portion of the cause could date back 25 years. Think about that. Ronald Reagan was president and Dan Marino was a senior at Pitt then. Yet Pennsylvania residents didn't know about this odoriferous problem until it ran in the pages of the Post-Gazette recently.

Something about that stinks, and it's not just the sewage.

We have a right to know what's in our water. Thankfully, since the Post-Gazette exposed the problem, officials are discussing community notification and will take a first step: posting a sign where the plant's tainted water reaches the Youghiogheny. But who's going to do that when it happens again?

Congress is trying to fix the problem with some rather common-sense legislation. The Raw Sewage Overflow Community Right to Know Act would require residents to be told when there's a sewage spill. In light of the Buena Vista failure and Pittsburgh's overwhelming combined sewer overflow concerns, it's amazing that no congressional delegates from the Pittsburgh area have signed on to co-sponsor this common-sense bill.

We all should call our elected officials in Washington and ask them to exercise some common sense for clean water and public health.