This past summer, a spinach e-coli scare was front page news for days. But before the recent front-page Washington Post article, most readers probably never dreamed that more than 2 billion gallons of raw sewage pour into the Anacostia River every year.

Nation-wide, the figure is a mind-boggling 860 billion gallons of raw or partially-treated sewage that flow straight into our rivers and streams. Something stinks about that, and it's not just the sewage.

People need to know - right away - when this toxic stew starts flowing past their homes, so they can take steps to protect themselves, their children and their pets. Through the Act for Healthy River campaign, we're pushing for meaningful laws to notify people when this noxious stuff is in their water. Armed with this knowledge, communities should have some pungent questions of their own for city, state and federal officials who refuse to keep sewage and garbage out of the Anacostia and the rest of our rivers.

On to the sewage spills of the week:

The kids are alright: Returning to school from holiday vacation, workers at a daycare in Prescott, TN found that raw sewage had overflowed into their classroom. A blockage in sewer lines likely caused the backup.

-Cookesville Herald Citizen, January 4, 2007

Forget the fork, grab a spoon: Heavy rains in Richmond, Indiana caused the combined sewer system to overflow into the East Fork Whitewater River. Officials issued an alert about the spill and advised residents to avoid contact with the river.

-Palladium-Item, January 8, 2007

Repeat offender: The Port Washington Narrows took another hit this past week when the city of Bremerton experienced combined sewer overflows of 12,485 and 153,718 gallons on Jan 5 and 7, respectively. No contact advisories from January 2 were extended after the spills.

-Kitsap Sun (Subscription Only), January 8, 2007

Oh baby, that's bad: A sewer line clogged by grease and plumbing parts caused sewage to back up into several homes in Hannibal, Montana. Sewage bubbled up through the toilet, sinks and dishwasher, leaving four inches of raw sewage covering the house of a woman that is eight months pregnant.

-KHQA7 online, January 9, 2007

Stormy weather: The King County manager of wastewater treatment explained to the County Council the cause of last month's massive combined sewer overflows. Heavy storms in November caused the system to bend (releasing some diluted sewage) but not break. The monster storm in mid-December, however, flooded a treatment plant in Seattle, leading to the dumping of 59 million gallons of untreated sewage into Elliott Bay. The loss of power at many pumping stations caused more sewage releases. Officials are currently assessing the damage and making repairs.

-Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 10, 2007