You know a city's got serious sewage problems when the local sewer district consistently uses streams and rivers as a back up for its failing sewer systems. This is the case in St. Louis, where rain causes rampant sewage discharges from the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District's more than 500 Sewer Overflows (200 Combined Sewer Overflows and 300 Sanitary Sewer Overflows).

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently reported that the Missouri Coalition for the Environment is taking a stand for Missouri's threatened rivers and streams by issuing a letter of intent to sue the sewer district if it continues to fail to comply with the Clean Water Act and keeps dumping sewage into Missouri's waterways.

Missouri Coalition for the Environment has been tracking these problems for years. Many of the city's infrastructure problems have been known for nearly 30 years and are largely the result of poor design and poor maintenance. Here's the Coalition's Executive Director, Kat Logan Smith:

"While MSD has delayed, delayed, and delayed fixing the problems, raw sewage continues to pollute our streams. We're seeking a commitment to solutions - not more excuses. St. Louis has fallen behind other cities in addressing its sewage system problems. We're well into the 21st century and still using a 19th century approach to sewers. It's time we caught up with the times."

Below is a map Kat sent me with the locations of all of St. Louis's Combined and Sanitary Sewer Overflows - pretty outrageous. Missouri Coalition for the Environment has also produced a very useful factsheet on St. Louis's sewer overflow problems.

We can expect to hear more on the Slog from Kat and her organization as their legal fight continues. She tells me they are planning to really ramp up their clean water and sewage work this year, and Act for Healthy Rivers will provide the perfect forum for this sewage saga.

Have you got a sewage story tell? Contact us to find out how to get in the Act.