Ongoing Sewage Overflows Pose Serious Public Health Risk Exposure to raw sewage in our waterways leaves people vulnerable to a host of disease-causing pathogens. The EPA estimates that 1.8 – 3.5 million people get sick from swimming, boating, or fishing in fecal contaminated water each year. While most people quickly recover from these illnesses, they […]
New Haven, CT—On Monday, July 6, a section of 30” sewer main in Hamden collapsed. Over the course of the day, as crews scrambled to divert and contain the flow, over two million gallons of raw sewage found their way into nearby storm drains and into the Mill River.
Pesticides are an enormous group of chemicals designed to kill unwanted insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), rodents (rodenticides), fungi (fungicides), and other so-called pests. The problem is, if those chemicals can kill a bug or plant, they can probably cause harm to humans or pets too. Even though pesticides are sprayed on land, many times, they […]
In 2015, the New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) passed new water quality standards that finally set the goal of making waterways around the city clean enough for the public to safely swim. The new regulation would have forced a significant reduction in the volume of raw untreated sewage that is currently dumped from the city directly into its waterways every time it rains. Today New York State dropped those standards from their regulations, sending us back untold years in our efforts to address insufficient sewage treatment in the city and the water pollution it creates.
In a stunning decision for nitrogen pollution—a decision that will affect Long Island Sound—the United States Supreme Court has declined to severely weaken the Clean Water Act. The municipal sewage treatment plant operator who has been polluting Maui’s coastline—joined by a chorus of industrial polluters filing amicus briefs—had argued that pollutants in sewage could be […]
Save the Sound is urging the public and the press to access reports in CT and/or sign up to receive alerts in NY and share them in your community. The Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law (SPRTK) went into effect in May 2013 making information about sewage overflows publicly available. Since that time thousands of […]
Today, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Our organization was founded just a few years after Earth Day, with 50 members. It’s humbling to see the restoration of our natural world that they, and you, have made possible since. On this historic occasion, here’s what our president, Curt Johnson, had […]
Organized by Peter Spain, Ash Creek Conservation Association (ACCA) and Save the Sound, the 1st Annual Black Rock Harbor Water Quality Summit was held with a packed house at the Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture School in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 26, 2020. The summit gathered area residents, local officials and water quality experts to discuss the current conditions and future improvements in Black Rock Harbor and Bridgeport’s progress in addressing municipal sewage overflows and stormwater mitigation.
