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"Sewage moves about two feet per second. So, it'd take about 6 to 8 hours to get here, and then it'd be another 8 hours to go through treatment...Of course, you'd have to add ... more hours if it was coming from the suburbs," plant overseer Mahanvir Prasher says.Massive sewage releases turn lakes into cesspools
Billions of gallons of waste from older plants foul waters
Sewage plant attendant Charni Calvert watches sludge as it heads for the wastewater plant's incinerator. Environmentalists would like to see outdated sewer systems like Detroit's upgraded.
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DETROIT -- If you're looking for Mahanvir Prasher, don't bother trying on a rainy day.
As the deputy chief operating officer at the mammoth Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant -- the nation's largest single-site sewage facility -- Prasher is busiest when heavy rains or melting snow add huge amounts of water to the sewage system.
"You think about rain in the forecast. We get ready. We know we're going to get a lot of flow," said Prasher, who began working at the plant 27 years ago armed with degrees in physics and chemistry and a desire to reduce pollution.
Even with the plant's continual growth -- it's now able to handle 1.5 billion gallons of sewage and storm water daily from nearly all of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties -- it can become so overwhelmed that it is forced to discharge inadequately treated sewage into the Detroit and Rouge rivers.
The mix of sewage and storm water eventually ends up in the Great Lakes, taking with it bacteria, viruses, parasites, as well as pollutants such as motor oil and pesticides, and what in sewage-plant vernacular is called "floatables" -- condoms, baby diapers, sanitary napkins and plastic bottles. The overflows are a widespread problem throughout the Great Lakes Basin.
The practice, which is lawful, is necessary because Detroit's sewer system, dating back to 1836, is what is known as a combined sewer system that uses the same pipes to collect raw sewage and storm water runoff. Newer suburbs tend to separate the two to try to avoid sewage overflows caused by bad weather.
As a result of the Clean Water Act of 1972, plants must get permits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or states to discharge the sewage-storm water mix into waterways -- but only as a last resort. Congress has banned sanitary sewer overflows -- discharges of raw sewage from the newer systems-- and violators face heavy fines.
But the problem of overflows is only expected to grow as the population in the Great Lakes Basin rises, putting more stresses on sewage systems. Older plants aren't being upgraded fast enough.
Like Detroit, other old, heavily populated cities, such as Milwaukee, Cleveland and Toronto, also have combined sewer systems. And when nature hits them with too much water or an electrical blackout, they dump sewage into waterways to avert backups into streets and basements.
The resulting nutrient overload rocks the aquatic food chain and poses risks to human health. And overflows are often the cause of beach closings.
"If the beach is closed a single day, it affects our business by 30 percent," says Jim Garvin, who owns Metro Party Shoppe at Harrison Township's Metro Beach. "We sell less beer, deli sandwiches, picnic supplies, you name it. It's just discouraging."
In 2004, the 815 beaches along the 5,500 miles of U.S. Great Lakes shorelines had 3,081 closures or advisories posted, according to the National Resources Defense Council.
As of July 27, 30 of Michigan's 343 monitored beaches had been closed at least one day. Last year -- memorable for heavy rains -- 66 Michigan beaches were closed for at least one day.
No national data are available for Canadian beaches. However, 30 of the 43 beaches on Lake Ontario have had advisories against swimming this season, according to Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, which is part of the global Waterkeeper Alliance group that monitors waterways.
"Most beach closings in the Canadian Great Lakes are related to sewage," says Krystyn Tully, vice president of the group. "The vast majority of beach closings are in older urban areas where sewage systems are out of date."
Discharges remain a problem
While alarm is growing, no one has calculated how much sewage is getting into the Great Lakes. Dale Bryson, who worked on the Great Lakes for the EPA for 34 years and is now the president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, estimates the volume at "hundreds of billions of gallons."
Individual discharges can be in volumes that are hard to fathom: In May 2004, for example, in what environmentalists say is one of the worst releases of sewage into the Lakes in recent times, Milwaukee dumped more than 4 billion gallons into Lake Michigan over a few days of heavy rainfall, creating an enormous slick of used condoms.
Despite upgrades, including the building of big retention basins in Michigan and other states to hold excess water, discharges remain common.
In Michigan in 2004, for example, 27 billion gallons of a sewage-storm water mix was dumped into the Great Lakes, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
More dangerously, Michigan communities reported 338 sanitary sewer overflows that poured 147 million gallons of raw sewage into the Great Lakes last year.
Metro Detroit communities have spent more than $3 billion on pollution abatement programs in the past decade. Detroit leads the way, with more than $1 billion in projects, including a $500 million tunnel to retain excess water that will be built starting in 2007.
And in 2002, the state's voters passed a $1 billion bond referendum to help upgrade sewer systems, half of which has been spent, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
New threats under study
Inadequately treated sewage isn't the only discharge fouling waters. Robert Burns recalls annual spring cleanup days when putting his hand in the Detroit River was like "grabbing a glob of Crisco" because of "fog" -- smelly fats, oils and grease from restaurant drains that create miles-long slicks after being discharged directly without treatment by sewage plants. Burns is affiliated with the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental group.
Beyond the human risks, the sewage nutrients set off a dangerous chain reaction in the Great Lakes food web.
As bacteria munch on the sewage to break it down, they use up huge amounts of oxygen, depleting it for fish. Meanwhile, the nutrient overload leads to excessive algae growth, which blocks sunlight from aquatic plants that serve as nature's hotels and buffet tables for baby fish.
John Hartig of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge tells of dead zones at the end of the Rouge River where only pollution-tolerant sludge worms can survive.
Scientists also are studying new sewage-related threats.
For example, the dramatic increase in the use of prescription drugs, including birth control pills, is being linked to such discoveries as male fish with eggs and turtles with estrogen.
Pathogens are now believed to be able to live for years inside sewage that builds up as sediment at the bottom of waterways, sparking a new fear about dredging. In addition, sewage releases will likely grow more risky with the rise of "super bugs," human pathogens evolving to resist prescription medications designed to kill them.
The severity of the sewage problem was spotlighted when a presidential task force recently proposed a $20 billion plan to clean up the Great Lakes: $13.7 billion, or two-thirds, targets sewage.
"This isn't rocket science," said Bryson, who worked on the panel's sewage team. "To solve it, you have to want to solve it, and back that up with money and enforcement."
The task force, echoing long-voiced ideas by environmentalists, proposes a mix of carrots and sticks for cities, giving them billions of dollars to upgrade sewage systems and then beefing up budgets of the EPA and the states' enforcement divisions to punish laggards.
Creative solutions include encouraging businesses to create "green areas," such as the Henry Ford Rouge Center's sedum-covered roof the size of five football fields that absorbs rainwater, instead of sending it into storm water drains.
Detroit News Staff Writer Gene Schabath contributed to this article.
Mahanvir Prasher, deputy chief operating officer at Detroit's sewage plant, watches a debris-clearing machine.
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