Filter By:
Type
State
Priority
Posted On
Search Results
New agreements show slow progress in fixing Baltimore sewer spills
One of my favorite places to ride my bike in Baltimore is the Jones Falls Trail between North Avenue and Druid Hill Park. The trail follows the last section of the Jones Falls before it flows underground in pipes underneath downtown on its way to the Inner Harbor, in a narrow stream valley below the traffic of I-83. But often – especially after a storm – the trail is marred by the stench of raw sewage. That’s because, when rainwater infiltrates into the sewer pipes carrying wastewater away from our homes, businesses, and schools, it floods the pipes and spills untreated sewage into our streams
Christie Administration Floods the Garden State
Right now, over 90 percent of New Jersey's waters do not meet one or more water quality standards. These standards are set by New Jersey under the law and the state is obligated to meet them. So, one would think that our state government would be doing all they can to improve the quality of our water by ensuring the standards are enforced. Nope. They are, in fact, doing the complete opposite. The Christie Administration's NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently adopted changes to roll back water quality protections in its Flood Hazard Area Control Act (FHACA), putting our
My First Task: Enforce Our Climate Laws?
At Clean Water Action, interns hit the ground running. That was my conclusion after traveling to the Massachusetts State House to witness a special hearing on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling on Kain v Department of Environmental Protection--on my first day, before I even had a chance to use the bathroom at CWA. This court case refers to the state’s lack of adherence to the Global Warming Solutions Act, a state law passed in 2008 that mandated a 25% reduction in carbon emissions by the year 2020 and deeper reductions by 2050. When the state failed to issue the necessary
Michigan’s Outdated and Dangerous Combined Sewer Systems
Many of Michigan’s urban and suburban areas expanded rapidly between the 1920s and the 1950s — an era with different priorities for water management. Many of Michigan’s water systems were originally built as combined systems, meaning the pipes carried both stormwater and wastewater. These systems simply discharged all water directly into local lakes, rivers, and streams, without treatment. Wastewater treatment centers were built later, and the combined sewer pipes were redirected there for the water to be processed before being released back into the water table. Starting in the mid-1950s
Protecting Michigan’s Waters: Infrastructure for the Future
Michigan is the Great Lakes state. As such, Michigan residents are acutely aware of our duty to protect the Great Lakes and our water resources for future generations. There are currently many threats to our water here in Michigan. Most of these threats have been looming for years, but action on them has been pushed off, as our legislature procrastinates and ignores the problems instead of taking the hard steps that action requires. The Flint water crisis brought the dangers of lead infrastructure and poor oversight from the state to the surface and a city was poisoned as a result. Every year
