Tammy Klemens & Darla Topp, Kent State University Stark Campus, North Canton, Ohio, USA

What’s the Stink About Sewage?

Septic Systems and Sewage Treatment Plants in Stark County and Their Effect on

the Environment.

What is sewage?Sewage is liquid and solid waste carried

off in sewers or drains (American Heritage Dictionary 2006).

Often referred to as wastewater, blackwater (Sustainable Build), water reclaimed water, sewer sludge or effluent (WordNet 2006).

Background Information

Background Information

Sewage Treatment Options

City or county sewage treatments plants.

Individual septic systems.

Wastewater or sewage drainage into lakes, rivers or streams.

Background Information

Government Controlled Sewage Treatment Systems

(Brain 2000)

Wastewater is collected and carried to sewage treatment plants via the sewer main .

Gravity carries the wastewater most of the way. Lift stations can be used to move waste up a hill.

Sewage can be treated in three separate stages. Primary treatment removes up to 50% of solid wastes. Secondary treatment removes up to 90% of solid and

organic wastes using bacteria and aeration. Tertiary treatment uses chemicals and filter beds to kill

remaining bacteria.

Background Information

Septic Systems(T.E. Griffith)

Effluent is discharged to the main holding tank. The solid waste sinks to the bottom as sludge and

grease and partially decomposed matter floats on top. The middle layer is composed of mostly water that is

discharged into the leach beds for filtration. Bacteria decomposes the sludge. Septic tanks need to be professionally cleaned out every

one to two years or the system will fail. New systems cost between $4500 to $20,000

Background Information

(Griffith)

(InspectAPedia)

Global Issues 2.6 billion people, or 40% of our population, do not live with

adequate sanitation (CDC 2008). Approximately 90% of sewage in developing countries is discharged

directly into rivers and streams (Revenga and Mock, 2000). The UN estimates that 5.2 million people, 4 million being children,

die from diseases carried by untreated wastewater each year (UTS 2002).

Diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever and hepatitis A are some of the diseases that can be contracted from contaminated wastewater (CDC 2008).

Certain combinations of chemicals discharged in sewage can produce an estrogen effect in fish, causing the males to develop eggs in their testes (Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly).

(Cosmos 2006)

Types

of

Pollutants

Ravenga and Mock 2000)

National Issues

The US pipes 50 trillion gallons of raw sewage to be processed by 20,000 different plants (Pegg 2004).

Some of these pipes are 200 years old and are failing. It could cost up to $1 trillion dollars to fix the sewage infrastructure (Pegg 2004).

In 2001, the EPA found 40,000 sewer backups and 400,000 backups of raw sewage into basements (Pegg 2004).

1.8 to 3.5 million people get rashes, respiratory infections and diarrhea from swimming in sewer contaminated waters (Pegg 2004).

Blended flow allows excess sewage to bypass treatment, mix with treated water and flow into rivers and streams carrying contaminates (Pegg 2004).

In 1996, researchers found that male fish living downstream of up-to-date U.S. sewage plants also had the estrogen effect (Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly).

1 in 4 American households use septic systems, many of which are failing (EPA 2009).

(MSNBC 2009)

Regional Issues

Lake Erie provides drinking water to 11 million people (Gamberg 2007).

10.9 billion gallons of raw sewage was dumped into Lake Erie in 2005 (Gamberg 2007).

Lake Erie swimmers who completely immerse themselves in the water are 40% more likely to become ill (Gamberg 2007).

2000-2005, Lake Erie’s water samples had unsafe E. coli levels in 1 out of 6 tests (DutZik and Gomberg 2006).

The Ohio EPA does not regulate septic systems, local health departments do (Ohio EPA).

Questions

Main question In Stark County, Ohio, are septic systems or wastewater treatment

plants more harmful to our environment?

Sub-questions What are the conditions of our local sewage infrastructure? Are repairs being made if the infrastructure is failing? Are there any diseases or illnesses attributed to our wastewater

treatment systems? If there are problems, what actions have the local government

institutions made to correct the problem? Are the septic systems in Stark County in compliance with state

health regulations?

?? ? ? ??

? ?

References

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sewage, accessed March 1, 2009

Brain, Marshall.  "How Sewer and Septic Systems Work."  01 April 2000.  HowStuffWorks.com. <http://home.howstuffworks.com/sewer.htm>  01 March 2009

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_diseases.html, accessed March 1, 2009

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/sanitation/index.html, accessed March 1, 2009

Cosmos, (2006, October 10), http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/750, accessed March 3, 2009

Dutzik, T. & Gomberg, A., (2006), Ohio Student Public Interest Research Group (Ohio PIRG), “Public Health at Risk: The Dangers Posed by Sewage Pollution in Ohio’s Lake Erie Basin”, http://www.ohiopirgstudents.org/reports/air-and-water/clean-air-and-water-reports/public-health-at-risk-the-dangers-posed-by-sewage-pollution-in-ohios-lake-erie-basin, accessed February 23, 2009

Gomberg, A., (2007, May), “Sewage Overflow: Billions of Gallons of Sewage Contaminate Lake Erie”, http://environmentohio.org/reports/clean-water/clean-water-program-reports/sewage-overflow-billions-of-gallons-of-sewage-contaminate-lake-erie2, accessed March 2, 2009

InspectAPedia, (2009), http://www.inspect-ny.com/septic/tankpump.htm, accessed March 3, 2009

MSNBC, (2009, February 26), http://msnbc.msn.com/id/29412651/, accessed March 3, 2009 Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA), http://www.epa.state.oh.us/pic/water.html,

accessed March 2, 2009

References Pegg, J. R., (2004, Feb. 20), “Crumbling U.S. Sewage System Undermines Public Health”,

Environment News Service, http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2004/2004-02-20-10.asp, accessed February 23, 2009

Photos.innersource.com, (2009), http://photos.innersource.com/media/8633/1/Sludge-drying-bed-(closeup).jpg, accessed March 4, 2009

Rachel’s Environment & Health Weekly, http://garynull.com/Documents/erf/fish_sex_hormones.htm, accessed March 1, 2009

Ravenga, C. & Mock, G., (2000, October), World Resources Institute, “Dirty Water: Pollution Problems Persist”, http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/water-resources/feature-16.html, accessed February 23, 2009

Sustainable Build, “Sustainable Sewage Design”, http://sustainablebuild.co.uk/SustainableDesignSewage.html, accessed March 2, 2009

T.E. Griffith Septic Cleaning Services, http://www.tegriffithseptic.com/index.htm, accessed March 1, 2009

University of Technology Sydney (UTS), “Simple Sewage Solution Could Save Millions Living in Third World”, http://www.uts.edu.au/new/releases/2002/November/11.html, accessed March 2, 2009

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), http://cfpub.epa.gov/owm/septic/index.cfm, accessed March 1, 2009

WordNet 3.0, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/effluent, accessed March 1, 2009