Louisville Provides a Case Study for Sewage Clean Up

James Bruggers reports: "A decade after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet forced a court-approved, 19-year plan to clean up Jefferson County's wastewater system, a Courier-Journal analysis has found that while much progress has been made, Louisville is still dumping huge volumes of untreated sewage into waterways."

The article kicks off a series of investigations into the accomplishments and shortcomings of the sewer clean up efforts. Bruggers's initial work maps out all the key statistics, like how many spillage sites have been cleaned, how much sewage is still spilling into local waterways, and how much the ongoing project will cost when it's complete.

As noted by Bruggers, Louisville is just one of many cities around the country tasked with enforcing federal requirements for keeping sewage out of local waterways.