Page 7 of 7

Working at cross purposes

Most of the sewage you just read about eventually ends up in the Catawba River Basin. According to the American Rivers Most Endangered Rivers report for 2001, the Catawba River was listed as the 13th most endangered river in the US. The four main threats to the river listed by the group were land development, sewage discharges and spills and water withdrawals.

In its annual work plan, which it submits to the state, county environmental officials at MCWQP acknowledged that yearly water quality monitoring data from 1998 through 2000 revealed high fecal coliform counts downstream of sewer leaks and other areas from which sewage has been legally or illegally discharged. That's not all sewage spill related, but some of it is. This is particularly ironic when you consider that the county has spent tens of millions of dollars on a surface water improvement program aimed at preserving natural buffers and improving the quality of the water in the county's creeks and streams, while at the same time often turning a blind eye to the sewage spills that have caused some of the pollution the county is trying to combat. *