Frank Pallone: “my amendment would strike provisions of the bill which authorize waivers of secondary treatment requirements for sewage…”

“my amendment would strike provisions of the bill which authorize waivers of secondary treatment requirements for sewage treatment plants in certain coastal communities which discharge into ocean water. There are two major steps to wastewater treatment which I think many of us know. One is the physical primary treatment, which is the removal of suspended solids. The second is the biological or secondary treatment, which is the removal of dissolved waste by bacteria. Secondary treatment, in my opinion, is very important, because it is critical to the removal of organic material from sewage. It is the material linked to hepatitis and gastroenteritis for swimmers. It is also the common denominator. Secondary treatment sets a base level of treatment that all must achieve, putting all facilities on equal ground. Today almost 15,000 publicly owned treatment works around the country apply secondary treatment. It makes no sense to exempt many of these facilities. Under existing law, a national standard of secondary treatment for public owned treatment works was established by Congress in the original 1972 Clean Water Act. There was a window of time during which facilities could apply for ocean discharge as an alternative to secondary treatment. However, this window has closed. A bill was passed last year, October 31, that allows the city of San Diego to apply for a waiver, even though that window has closed.”