A study released last week by the Sierra Legal Defense Fund has found that cities in the Great Lakes basin are dumping sewage into the Great Lakes at a rate that endangers one of the most important freshwater ecosystems on earth. The study, titled the Great Lakes Sewage Report, was produced by Sierra Legal, a prominent nonprofit environmental organization in Canada and surveys twenty cities in the Great Lakes basin and is the first ecosystem-based survey and analysis of municipal sewage treatment and sewage discharges. The cities analyzed contain approximately a third of the region's 35 million people and dump an estimated 23.7 billion gallons of untreated sewage into the Great Lakes last year. Perhaps most disturbing, the region's largest cities--Detroit, Windsor, Toronto, and Cleveland--have some of the worst rankings due in large part to their antiquated sewage systems that combine storm water and sanitary sewage into single pipes that are prone to releasing raw sewage during wet weather when systems become overloaded.
Grand Rapids is one of the twenty cities analyzed in the report, with the city receiving a "C+" for its handling of sewage and water treatment and was ranked 8th overall among cities surveyed. Grand Rapids' rating was better than the two other Michigan area cities rated--Sarnia and Detroit--who received ratings of "C" and "D" respectively. However, Grand Rapids' ranking was only average and indicated that there is plenty of work to be done. The city's sewer system received good marks for recent upgrades and future plans as well as for its "average yearly volume of combined sewer overflows," but received poor ranking for its frequency of combined (storm and sanitary) overflows. According to the study, there were 11 and 23 combined sewage overflow incidents in 2005. In 2005, these amounted to a total of 50.3 million gallons in overflows including 11 million gallons of raw and 39.3 million gallons of partially-treated sewage. These overflows amounted to 0.29% of the city's total sewage flow.
The report makes a series of broad-ranging recommendations to lessen sewage discharges and to preserve the Great Lakes. These recommendations include water conservation to reduce the flow of sewage in addition to preserving fresh water, separating storm water from entering sanitary and combined sewer systems, and improving infrastructure through research and investment. The report also calls for strong governmental action, recommending bans on toxic chemicals and developing strict sewer use guidelines. Of course, the report recognizes that such laws would only be helpful if they were enforced and the report calls for robust enforcement measures on the part of governments in the Great Lakes region. The report recommends looking into reclamation as another means of lessening water usage.
A day after the report's release, the Grand Rapids Press reported that the city of Grand Rapids has eliminated 99% of the city's combined sewer overflows into the Grand River. In a November 30 article titled "Grand Rapids Comes Clean," the Press cited Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong who described Grand Rapids' efforts to reduce sewer overflows "an environmental success story." Officials in Grand Rapids have spent $210 million since 1991 to eliminate 99% of the overflows with DeLong stating that the city "will spend $100 to $150 chasing" the remaining 1% of overflows. Last year, Grand Rapids discharged 50.276 million gallons of partially treated sewage for a total of 4.5% of the total untreated sewage discharged into the Grand River. In addition to making improvements to the city's sewer infrastructure, the city has also reduced the number of overflow locations to seven from 59 in 1990.
