ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com)—
The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered new clean water standards for the Mississippi river around St. Louis. The agency wants the water to be clean enough to swim in. The 28-and-a-half miles of river near St. Louis is being polluted with billions of gallons of raw sewage and waste each year. The feds want it stopped.During heavy rains raw sewage and human waste mix with rain runoff and end up in the Mississippi. The E.P.A says that runoff is about six to seven billion gallons of combined sewer overflows.
The problem is that parts of St. Louis's sewer system are 150 years old. It mixes raw sewage and street runoff. When it rains too much it overflows into the river.
The E.P.A says the only way to address the problem is to make improvements in the infrastructure in the St. Louis area.
The Metropolitan Sewer District is in the middle of spending six billion dollars to fix the problem.
The state says it's working with the E.P.A on new, tougher, clean water rules.
