Sewage Treatment Plants

Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceuticals in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression, researchers reported Wednesday. Findings from this first nationwide study of human drugs in fish tissue have prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to expand similar research to more than 150 locations.

Sewage-treatment plants in Southern California are failing to remove hormones and hormone-altering chemicals from water that gets flushed into coastal ocean waters, according to the results of a study released Saturday. The preliminary findings were part of the most ambitious study to date on the effect of emerging chemical contaminants in coastal oceans.

An Australian state will become the nation's first to introduce recycled sewage to its drinking water, and the rest of Australia could follow suit, a state leader said today. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said falling reservoir levels left his government with no choice but to introduce recycled water next year in the state's southeast, one of Australia's fastest growing urban areas.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of a proposed sewage sludge composting plant that would be built eight miles outside the high desert town of Hinkley, despite strong objections from residents worried about potential health hazards. "I think this will end up being the best project possible under the circumstances," said Board Chairman Paul Biane. The town was made famous by activist Erin Brockovich, who helped force Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

A sewage reservoir in the northern Gaza Strip collapsed Tuesday, killing five people as waste and mud swamped a village. Rescue crews and Hamas gunmen searched for people underneath the noxious liquid. Dressed in wetsuits, they paddled boats on the rivers of waste or waded in up to their hips. When Palestinian Authority Interior Minister Hani Kawasmi arrived to survey the damage, his bodyguards fired in the air to disperse a crowd.

Environmentalists and high-desert residents trying to stop an open-air sewage sludge composting plant from being built near Hinkley filed a lawsuit Thursday against San Bernardino County, alleging that it violated state environmental laws in approving the facility. In February, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of the project despite strong objections by residents worried about potential health hazards.

A new sewage plant will be housed in a building that looks like a farmhouse in an effort to hide it in a planned community. The $9.5-million plant will be in a vintage-looking facade rather than the typical concrete block building. Planners also added stained glass above the entry doors, landscaping, park benches and a trail. Making the plant more visually appealing cost the city an additional $500,000, but it was worth it, said John Lovejoy, special projects manager.

An explosion and fire ripped through a liquid waste treatment facility in Cleveland as crews worked on a tank, injuring six people and sending smoke billowing across highways. Workers were using cutting tools when the fire broke out, Fire Department spokesman Larry Gray said. Smoke could be seen pouring through holes in the roof of the General Environmental Management facility.

The talk was of psychology, dead cockroaches and disgust. A small gathering of water managers and consultants met in the South Bay for an unusual session a couple of years ago. They were seeking insight into the resounding public "yuck!" that has thwarted efforts to turn the steady stream from Californians' toilets, showers and kitchen sinks into drinking water. In a semi-arid region such as Southern California, where most of the water is piped in from far-flung rivers, recycled water -- a.k.a.

A fetus was discovered Tuesday in the sewage processing bin of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency regional plant, authorities said. A worker at the plant noticed the fetus and alerted authorities, Ontario Police Det. Diane Galindo said. The plant processes sewage from Ontario, Fontana, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga and other Inland Empire cities. It is possible that the fetus, which was estimated to be in the second or third trimester, was flushed down a toilet, Galindo said.