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Florida lawmakers begin cracking down on polluters

photo: City of Sarasota employees work to contain a sewage spill. (Florida)

Photo: City of Sarasota employees work to contain a sewage spill. Herald-Tribune archive (2011) Mike Lang

But big questions remain about how far they’ll go

TALLAHASSEE — The crowd packed into a committee room in the basement of the Florida House office building burst into applause last week after Rep. Randy Fine finished delivering an impassioned speech about preventing sewage from spilling into waterways.

“If the sergeant would get the … [more…] “Florida lawmakers begin cracking down on polluters”

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FPL Wins Battle to Store Radioactive Waste Under Miami’s Drinking Water Aquifer

FPL Wins Battle to Store Radioactive Waste Under Miami's Drinking Water Aquifer

Update 1/17: Environmental activists have started a petition urging Florida lawmakers to prevent FPL from storing waste underground.

South Florida sits atop two gigantic underground stores of water: the Biscayne and Floridan Aquifers. Miamians get most of their drinking water from the upper Biscayne Aquifer, while the government has used the lower portion of the Floridian to dump waste and untreated sewage — despite the fact that multiple studies have … [more…] “FPL Wins Battle to Store Radioactive Waste Under Miami’s Drinking Water Aquifer”

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U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Hawaii Clean Water Act Case

photo: degraded coral reef

Degraded coral reefs at Kahekili Beach Park in west Maui, Hawaii. Peter Swarzenski / Usgs

In a case watched closely both by polluting industries and clean water advocates across the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up an appeal of a Clean Water Act case out of Hawaii concerning treated sewage flowing into the Pacific Ocean from injection wells.

Last March, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals … [more…] “U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Hawaii Clean Water Act Case”

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A sewage spill polluted oyster beds in South Carolina town

photo: sewage spill contaminated oyster beds in South Carolina

Photo: John Forsyth (left) and Tim White with the Dorchester County Water & Sewer Department prepare to use a VacTruck to clean grease and other waste from Lift Station 117 in Hollywood on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. File/Brad Nettles/Staff

Some residents worry about the fix.

Negotiations are moving forward on a plan to help the small town of Hollywood’s beleaguered sewer system, but some tensions are already appearing.

The plan, … [more…] “A sewage spill polluted oyster beds in South Carolina town”

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Record-setting rain has created a biosolids problem for sewage treatment plants

photo: Biosolid treatment by-products use stalled due to heavy rains

Photo: Record-setting rain in the D.C. area has caused problems for local sewage treatment plants. (Robert Miller/The Washington Post)

Sewage treatment plants throughout the Mid-Atlantic are dealing with a smelly problem: The farmland that typically uses the material that remains after the treatment process as natural fertilizer is saturated from last year’s heavy rains.

That means utilities have to store the biosolids until the farmland dries — and some of

… [more…] “Record-setting rain has created a biosolids problem for sewage treatment plants”