Sewage plants dump chemicals

More than a third of Indiana's water-treatment plants illegally dumped toxic chemicals into waterways during a three-year period, according to a new nationwide study by an environmental group.\nThe report by the Public Interest Research Group examined pollution from 1999-2001 and focused on permits for "high hazard chemicals" -- pollutants known or suspected to cause cancer and reproductive and developmental disorders. Among those toxins were mercury, cyanide and phosphorus.\nThe study found that the bulk of the state's pollution discharges come from northwest Indiana's sewage-treatment plants. It ranked Indiana among the nation's 10 worst violators of water-pollution laws.\n"The high presence of industry in the state -- and in northwest Indiana -- plays a big role in the amount and levels of the violation," said Leise Jones, a field organizer with Indiana's PIRG chapter. "The (environmental) agencies are severely underfunded and don't have the resources to enforce the laws effectively."\nThe authors of the report, issued Thursday on the eve of the Clean Water Act's 30th anniversary, wrote that federal and state agencies are losing the ability to police the nation's polluters.\n"The Bush administration and our enforcement agencies here in Indiana should act in the best interest of the environment and public health and hold polluters accountable to the letter and spirit of the law," Jones said.\nEast Chicago's sewage-treatment plant topped the list of 67 Indiana facilities that discharged "high hazard chemicals" at levels violating their federal Clean Water Act permits.\nOfficials at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management say the public is not at risk. Deputy Commissioner Tim Method said 2,000 plants statewide submit monthly reports detailing their discharge levels.\n"It's a pretty structured process that EPA has in place for looking at that data to determine what warrants enforcement," Method said. "What would be bad is if action was not taken on a chronic problem. And action on those is taken."\nEast Chicago's plant reported exceeding its permit for mercury by 1,900 percent in October 2001.\n"That's not what is important," Jones said. "The bottom line is that (these facilities) are in violation -- no matter how much or how often. They are discharging this toxic waste into our waterways."\nBut the amount discharged is also relevant, Method said.\n"There is no indication that water-quality standards are being violated," he said. "Permit limits are set for the worst-possible situation. Most facilities don't encounter the worst-possible situations"