We believe Citizens have a right to protect their own health...

We contend that you have a fundamental right to know when raw sewage threatens your safety while swimming, fishing, or paddling. This information can be used to protect yourself and your family from the serious consequences of sewage pollution.

City of Jackson is not complying with its own Sewer Overflow Response Plan (SORP), which requires the City to issue a press release and place temporary signs in the area of a sewage  overflow whenever an overflow creates "a significant health hazard" or "significant volume has reached waters of the US and/or State".

The City of Jackson has experienced hundreds of Sanitary Sewer Overflow events that have released millions of gallons of sewage to the Pearl River and its tributaries.  Not a single public notification has been issued for these years:

2018: 180 SSOs to Waters of the State: 5.9 million gallons

2019: 169 SSOs to Waters of the State: 33.6 million gallons

1st quarter 2020: 57 SSOs to Waters of the State: 476.5 million gallons

The current SORP notification plan is too vague in that it doesn't specify an amount that constitutes a "significant volume" or the situations that would yield a "significant health hazard".  

It is critical to develop consistent, objective criteria in order to increase compliance with the notification procedures and ensure citizens can protect their health from sewage spills.

Sewer overflows pose a substantial public health threat to citizens.  According to the EPA Experts Workshop on Public Health Impacts of Sewer Overflows, “Sewer overflows are a human health issue because they can create the potential for exposure to disease-causing pathogens, including protozoa, bacteria, and viruses. Activities involving exposure to [sewage] contaminants through swimming or other contact can lead to infectious diseases such as hepatitis, gastrointestinal disorders, dysentery, and swimmer’s ear. Other forms of bacteria can cause typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. Human health also can be impacted from ingesting fish or shellfish contaminated by [sewage] discharges.”

Our petition seeks to require City of Jackson to follow their current public notification plan, and to quantify the meaning of "significant volume" and "significant health hazard", so that when a spill happens, following that plan will be simple.  Our petition also calls for MDEQ to enforce compliance of the City of Jackson Sewer Overflow Response Plan.

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