Digging Deeper into Indianapolis' Combined Sewer System
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The Injustice of Contamination
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
PAGE TWO
December 2018 Issue
Combined Sewer Overflow Explained
The Injustice of Contamination
Digging Deeper into Indianapolis' Combined Sewer System
Continued from page one...
"Water is the driving force of all nature."
In accordance with Neltner’s theory, the indifference towards cleaning up Indianapolis’ waterways is tied to the demographics of the communities living on the banks of those waterways. While wealthier individuals historically have had the financial – and social – capacity to leave the rivers and their bordering neighborhoods behind for the cleaner suburbs, the remaining, traditionally marginalized communities are left to deal with the negative consequences of water pollution.
As Neltner explains, residents living near the polluted river were disproportionately affected by the challenges of poverty, institutional racism, and limited resources and were denied the appropriate education and opportunity to address – or even be aware of – the pollution issues. Wading through the lingering effects of segregation and the Civil Rights Movement, Indianapolis’ river communities were – and are still being – denied access to the channels required to bring about change for Indianapolis’ waterways.
Combined Sewer Overflow warning sign taken in Milwaukee, WI.
© Michael Pereckas, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
and it benefited and beautified the lands of the plaintiffs" (9).
Combining the complaints of generations past with those of modern communities living along the banks of the White River and dealing with the consequences of its contaminated state daily, the presence of a significant problem is not only clear but has been developing in intensity for over a century.
But if this pollution has been affecting Hoosiers since the early 1900s, why has it taken the city so long to develop a solution?
While the Indianapolis News cases of 1903 and 1916 touch on the answer, Thomas G. Neltner clearly addresses the injustice of contamination in his essay, “Civil Rights Action on Combined Sewer Overflows in Indianapolis.”
© U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
As one might expect, the words of Leonardo da Vinci, genius of the Renaissance Era, remain true almost five-hundred years after his death.
Waterways constitute the building blocks of Indiana’s natural infrastructure. From Lake Michigan in the north to the Ohio River in the south, streams, rivers, and lakes have driven the state’s economy, defined its borders, and provided essential resources to generations of Hoosiers. However, since Indiana’s inception into the United States in the early 1800s and the industrial boom that followed, the state’s attention was refocused on advancement, efficiency, and growth, leaving the protection of the waterways relied on by so many behind.
Now, having just celebrated its bicentennial, Indiana is realizing how this shift has shaped its cities and the Hoosiers who call them home, and not necessarily positively.
This event is referred to as a combined sewer overflow (CSO), which totals “approximately 7.8 BILLION gallons each year.”
A Pollution Resolution
References
“White River State Park July 2016” by adstarkel is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Can a 28-mile long tunnel system really solve Indianapolis' water pollution problem?
Indianapolis is home to the White River, the largest tributary of the Wabash River that ultimately flows into the Mississippi. The health of the river clearly has the potential to impact great numbers of people within the city alone, but, as Indra Frank, Environmental Health Director for
the Hoosier Environmental Council, explains, “water does not respect political boundaries.” Because of this indisputable fact, the waters of the White River do not exclusively impact Indianapolis, but flow throughout the state and even the country, carrying with them any pollutants and
contaminants that have been introduced. And unfortunately, there is no doubt that the White River is teeming with contaminants, much of which have resulted from Indianapolis’ combined sewer system.
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“Water links us to our neighbor in a way more complex and profound than any other.” – John Thorson, Judge and Environmental Lawyer
1800s. It takes little common sense to question why this contamination has continued for so long without termination. The answer may lie in the politicized nature of water.
Combined sewer overflow (CSO) in Indianapolis is clearly a problem, and one at that whose foul effects have been negatively impacting Hoosiers’ waterways since the late
A Well-Intentioned Disaster
Indianapolis builds its first sewer system.
Regardless of the setbacks they have faced for the past hundred years, Indianapolis’ communities have continually pushed for better water policy. And, following a 2006 citation against Indianapolis alleging its ongoing violation of the Clean Water Act, a response is finally in progress.
As reported by the Hoosier Environmental Council, “the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice reached a consent agreement with the City to eliminate 97% of combined sewer overflow by 2025,” leading to the current CSO solution referred to as the “DigIndy Project" (11).
Spearheaded by Citizens Energy Group, the DigIndy project involves the construction of “a 28-mile long network of 18-foot diameter deep rock tunnels being built 250-feet beneath the city” (12) intended to store sewage overflow until it can be properly treated (13). As reported
by the utility company, “along with other projects in the combined sewer system and at Citizens two advanced wastewater treatment plants, the $2 billion program is Indy’s solution to reducing combined sewer overflows into area waterways…and keeping the utility in compliance with a Consent Decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (14).
Ideally, this solution should prevent the previously cited 7.8 billion gallons of overflow from entering the city’s rivers and streams. But what happens next?
While the DigIndy tunnel is on track to make a significant difference in the levels of pollution entering the White River and Indianapolis’ other waterways and positively impact the health of those living
on its banks, the project does
bring to light certain concerns. Indianapolis has a history of revitalization efforts resulting in area gentrification, and if the White River is revived into a sought-after resource, what is at stake for those who have lived on its banks for years and suffered from its pollution? Would it mean displacement to the next polluted stream down the road?
The DigIndy tunnel is meant to eliminate 97% of CSO, but is that enough? Will a river still flowing with sewage - albeit a much smaller quantity - be a beneficial resource to Hoosiers?
DigIndy may be a step in the right direction for the overflow challenges of Indianapolis' sewer system, but the livelihood of the communities embedded in the river is riding on the growth of the social and environmental justice awareness of a city that has failed them for over a century.
(1) IndyStat Department of Public Works, “Department of Public Works and Clean Stream Team Consent Decree and Sanitary Sewer and Stormwater Capital Program Performances,” July 14, 2008, http://www.indy.gov/eGov/Mayor/Documents/DPW%207.14.08.pdf.
(2) “The Problem - Citizens Energy Group,” accessed November 15, 2018, https://www.citizensenergygroup.com/Our-Company/Our-Projects/Dig-Indy/The-Problem.
(3) “Does Indy Have a Sewer Problem, and Why Should You Care? Part 1 of 3 | Hoosier Environmental Council,” accessed November 15, 2018, https://www.hecweb.org/2017/08/15/does-indy-have-a-sewer-problem-and-why-should-you-care/.
(4) “Clean Water Act Settlement with Indianapolis Will Reduce Pollution at Lower Costs,” November 8, 2010, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/clean-water-act-settlement-indianapolis-will-reduce-pollution-lower-costs.
(5) “Indianapolis News 30 July 1903 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program,” accessed October 3, 2018, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INN19030730-01.1.1&srpos=2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22white+river%22+pollution------.
(6) “Indianapolis News 14 August 1916 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program,” accessed October 4, 2018, https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=INN19160814-01.1.14&srpos=5&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-%22white+river%22+and+%22pollution%22+and+%22indianapolis%22------.
(7) “Indianapolis News 14 August 1916 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program.”
(8) “Indianapolis News 14 August 1916 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana’s Digital Historic Newspaper Program.”
(9) Ibid.
(10) Thomas G. Neltner, “Civil Rights Action on Combined Sewer Overflows in Indianapolis,” Clearinghouse Review 39 (2006 2005): 429–39.
(11) “Does Indy Have a Sewer Problem, and Why Should You Care? Part 1 of 3 | Hoosier Environmental Council.”
(12) “DigIndy Tunnel System - Citizens Energy Group,” accessed November 28, 2018, https://www.citizensenergygroup.com/Our-Company/Our-Projects/Dig-Indy.
(13) “The Solution - Citizens Energy Group,” accessed November 15, 2018, https://www.citizensenergygroup.com/Our-Company/Our-Projects/Dig-Indy/The-Solution.
(14) “DigIndy Tunnel System - Citizens Energy Group.”
Children play on the banks of the polluted White River, circa 1920.
© Indiana Historical Society: Jay Small Postcard Collection
On July 30, 1903, the Indianapolis News published an article titled “River Pollution: Vital Question” that denounced the contamination of the White River, specifically highlighting the detrimental effects of waste contributed by strawboard companies on fish life. According to the piece, the government was aware of water pollution issues and had passed a 1901 bill titled “A Bill to Prevent Stream Pollution,” but it is suggested that the economic benefits the offending corporations brought to the city outweighed the benefits of clean water (5).
Less than fifteen years later, the newspaper published another article, more aggressively titled “Indianapolis Sued for Fouling River.” The article explains that, in 1916 alone, nineteen lawsuits were filed against Indianapolis and several capitol-based corporations by farmers in Morgan County due to pollution of the White River, supposedly caused by the dumping of waste (6). As an excerpt from the 1916 article explains, “the plaintiffs demand judgement for damages against the
defendants for a total of $299,000 because of the pollution of the White River, which the plaintiffs charge the defendants have brought about by the continued dumping of refuse and putrid water into that river" (7).
The lawsuits came to fruition as a result of the heinous effects of pollution on the vast populations throughout the entire state who relied on the river to support their livelihoods. The following excerpts illustrate the grievances of generations past in their battle to condemn the White River’s primary polluters.
“The condition of the stream has been so filthy in summer time that people along the river could hardly remain in their homes, the stock would not drink the water, and the fish died in great numbers. Only a few days ago it was reported that great piles of dead fish were lying on the shoals and sand bars of White River this side of Indianapolis on down this way for several miles" (8).
"The defendants, besides the
Indiana-Illinois Wabash River Pollution Survey being conducted, circa 1931.
The White River is the largest tributary of the Wabash River.
© Indiana Historical Society: Martin’s Photo Shop Collection
Over a century ago when Indianapolis was first developing a sewer system, it, like many older cities of its time, build what is referred to as a combined sewer (1).
As explained by Citizens Energy Group, an Indianapolis-based utility organization, these sewers, considered quite innovative at the time, combined both storm water and sewage all within one pipe, which was directly deposited into the city’s rivers (2).
As time went on, concerns regarding sending raw sewage directly into Indianapolis’ waterways arose, leading to the development of sewage treatment plants. While this development should have solved the city’s sewage issues, unforeseen environmental circumstances affected the solution’s success.
The Hoosier Environmental Council explains the resulting challenge, stating that “the problem arises when Indy receives rainfall. As little as a quarter of an inch of precipitation is enough to overwhelm the…[sewer] systems, overfilling holding tanks and allowing the untreated sewage to run unchecked into the White River" (3). This event is referred to as a combined sewer overflow (CSO), which totals “approximately 7.8 billion gallons each year" (4).
cultivating their land along the river for the purpose of watering their stock, and they also obtained fish from the stream for their households. At the time of freshets the river would overflew some of the land and leave deposits that would enrich the land. No obnoxious nor offensive odors then arose from the stream
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city of Indianapolis, are Kingan & Co., the Butchers’ Packing Company [and six additional corporations]. The complaint recites that before the construction of a system of sewers by the city of Indianapolis, and before the acts of the other defendants complained of in the suit, the White River was a stream of pure water and was used by the plaintiffs and persons