Here's a sobering fact: The Great Lakes contain 20% of all the fresh water in the world, but they replenish at a rate of just 1% per year. This means that the sewage dumped in them today will be with us for the next century - posing an environmental risk and a threat to the primary drinking water source for millions of people on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.

And we're talking about a lot of sewage - roughly 25 billion gallons of raw sewage entering the lakes each year. That, according to The Great Lakes Sewage Report Card, the first ever report on sewage contamination in the region, released last month by Sierra Legal. Of the 20 municipalities evaluated, the report did not find a single one with a fully up-to-date wastewater treatment system. See all grades here.

Now on to the sewage Spills O' the Week:

Thinking outside the box: A landscape contractor in New Bern, North Carolina ran over a box protecting a sewer valve, causing a 3,000-gallon sewage spill into a tributary of Brices Creek (Sun Journal North Carolina - Dec 13, 2006). Down the road a piece, in Wilmington, traffic was disrupted for three days following a 650,000-gallon raw sewage spill into Hewlett Creek. Bacteria tests from the creek came back at 1,000 times what is allowed for human contact. (WWAY 3 - Nov 21, 2006)

The San Francisco treat: Rainfall burst a sewer main and allowed stormwater mixed with sewage to flow on to Bay area streets. As in many cities, San Francisco's pipes carry both stormwater and household sewer waste. This is a recurring problem since more than 70 percent of the city's 900 miles of sewer pipes are 70 years or older.
(CBS 5 San Francisco - Dec 12, 2006)

Don't go in the water: Health officials in San Diego did the right thing by closing the ocean shoreline from the Mexico border to Imperial Beach and posting health warnings after construction ruptured a sewer line.
(10news.com San Diego - Dec 12, 2006)

Mmmm...frozen sludge: A frozen valve at an Illinois sewage treatment plant caused a major sewage spill. Fortunately, the cold weather quickly froze the sludge that spilled out, making cleanup easier.
(Northwest Herald - Dec 10, 2006)