Wastewater Infrastructure Failures

Outdated wastewater infrastructure and poorly maintained or failing wastewater infrastructure threaten coastal water quality by discharging raw and under-treated sewage into local waterways and the ocean. Sewage can contain bacteria, viruses and parasites that make people sick with gastro-intestinal symptoms, rashes, flu-like symptoms, skin and eye infections and worse. Sewage discharges also pollute waterways with excess fertilizers that wreak havoc on coastal ecosystems by causing “nutrient loading” which fuels harmful algal blooms that put human health at risk, cause fish kills, threaten marine mammals and smother coral reefs.

An understanding of the basics of how the nation’s stormwater and wastewater infrastructure works is key in helping Surfrider’s activists and other concerned citizens who want to address sewage pollution problems that lead to beach closures, stressed coastal ecosystems, and harm to human health.