I don't think we covered this spill in Arcade Creek Sacramento, CA a month or so, but KCRA 3 News film crews caught some pretty dramatic video what a sewer main breach looks like. be

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When you think of the Great Barrier Reef you think of beautiful fish, pristine ecosystems and great surfing not raw sewage. According to Bruce Gunn, a former diving guide on the reef, sewage is an increasing threat to not only marine life but human health as well! Gunn claims that while he worked as the chief engineer on a charter dive boat in the 1990s, he was fixing a pump on a sewage tank when a valve broke cutting his wrist and covering him in raw sewage. Tragically, he contracted Hepatitis C from this incident and his had failing health ever since. Gunn is now trying to shed some light on the growing problem of sewage dumping within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. "Today there are hundreds of charter boats doing two trips a week and each of them is dumping a 44-gallon drum amount of what I call cocktail sewage," he said. "I saw a mullet once with a tampon still hanging out of its mouth." That's one of the grossest things I can imagine. This is a great example of how sewage in our rivers, lakes, streams and oceans can not only cause great damage to those natural ecosystems, but poses significant human health risks with very real and devastating consequences.

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Nothing ruins Christmas like sewage running through the streets of your home town. Deja vu all over again. Since December 22, sewage has been bubbling up to the surface and covering the streets of Hawthornvale, Scotland. Residents complained continually throughout the week but it wasn't until local media took an interest in the story did anything get down to alleviate the problem. "We were all told by customer services something would be done about it," said angry resident, Jonathon Harris. "At times it can be pretty foul smelling. It's a real mess of toilet paper and what can only be described as feces flowing down the side of the pavement in the gutter. It's absolutely disgusting and when it's wet, you can't see what you're walking in."

The sewer utility, Scottish Waters, finally stopped the leak on Monday (New Years Eve!!) but not soon enough for some. Dr Chris Mackel, 62, said he returned home from a holiday on December 27 to find the sewage still pouring past his front door: "I reported it twice to the council and then to Scottish Water to complain about the problem. So when I came back and saw it worse I contacted the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to see if they could help. ...But it's still bad and I'd say there's probably about three centimeters been gurgling up from the drains. It's an absolute health hazard." Everyone, including the Scots, deserve healthy communities.

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Surfers (SAS) tore it up again this week by interrupting the prestigious British Environment and Media Awards (BEMAS). Two surfers decked out in surf shorts, jackets and ties, presented the "Golden Loo (Toilet) Brush" for "services" against the environment to Alistair Baker, Communications Director of Northumbrian Water. Northumbrian plans to turn off the UV disinfection component of 6 sewage treatment facilities in Northeastern UK because it is now "outside the bathing (swimming) season." Turning the UV filters off would essentially allow partially treated sewage to flow freely into the oceans potentially exposing thousands of boaters, fisherman and tourists to toxic sewage. This is two weeks in a row for these guys! Keep up the good work.

Now the Spills of the Week: