Congress just moved a little closer to establishing your right to know for sewage spills. Last Thursday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to pass the Sewage Right to Know bill (HR 2452) and send it to the full House for consideration.

Brad Devries on the Lower Yough

The Youghiogeny River is renowned as one of the best white water rivers in the eastern United States. Thousands of boaters, anglers and families flock to western Pennsylvania's Youghiogeny River every year because of its outstanding recreational value. Sadly, you know when a river shows up on this blog it rarely means something good and as someone who loves to paddle the Yough I'm troubled to be writing about this. Last week, the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette reported that over the past year the wastewater treatment plant in Elizabeth Township has released more than 95 Million gallons of raw sewage into the river, sometimes six million gallons a day! And this is the first the public has learned about this issue.

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to testify on the Sewage Right to Know Bill (H.R. 2452) at a hearing in the House of Representatives. Talk about nervous... but it wasn't as bad as it could have been given that bill sponsors Rep. Bishop (D-NY) and Rep. LoBiondo (R-NJ) were chairing the hearing.

After finally getting some rest and allowing the dust to settle I'm very happy to say that River Action Day was a major success. About 90 river advocates from all over the country took to Capitol Hill to be the voice of their hometown rivers in the halls of Congress. As always, this event helped raise the political profile of several important pieces of river legislation that Congress is considering, including the Sewage Overflow Right to Know Act now pending in both the House and Senate. All told, River Action Day participants attended more than 200 congressional meetings and their presence was felt and seen on both sides of the Capitol.

Great news - Senator Lautenberg has just introduced the Senate version of the Sewage Overflow Right to Know Act. This makes a lot of sense when you think about as Senator Lautenberg has been a long time leader in increasing the public's right to know for environmental and health risks.

We just got some good news from one of Rep. Russ Carnahan's Environment Legislative Aide. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment applauds Rep. Carnahan for her support of this important bill. Here's the message from the staffer:

I wake up to the radio in the morning, which means that sometimes I don't really wake up when the alarm goes off. I drift in and out of sleep, catching random parts of various radio stories. Today was one of those mornings. Until I heard Bill Redlin talk about Washington DC's problem with sewer overflows. My eyes flew open.

Combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, are a problem facing many communities across the country. Combined means that both sewage and rain go to the same treatment plant. When it rains and the wastewater treatment plant can't hold the increased load, the sewer systems are designed to overflow sending polluted stormwater runoff and raw sewage into rivers and streams.

Have you been enjoying your summer, splashing in your stream and swimming in your local lake? You may think you know whether it's safe to take a dip, but depending on where you live, there's a good chance you have no idea.

Given that there is no consistent national standard requiring sewage system operators to alert the public about spills, states play a critical role. But what states actually require public notification after a sewer overflow - in which states can you dive into your local lake or river confident that you won't be paddling through the waste your neighbor flushed down the drain the day before?

As Tropical Depression Erin moves across Texas, I can't help but think of the sewage problems that Texas has already had this year. The massive flooding experienced just a few months ago left its mark on the state. With this new batch of wet weather, flood advisories are already being issued. Stay tuned to the Slog as we will update you next week on any sewage related developments caused by Erin.

Now the Spills of the Week:

When I paddle on the Potomac River in the DC area, I often see things floating in the water. Usually, it's just driftwood or river grass, but I often check just to make sure.

Why? Because according to a recent lawsuit, DC's Water and Sewer Authority discharges about 2 billion gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers and their tributaries each year.

That's a lot of sewage. So when I see a "floater," I want to know what it is.