[CPEO-MEF] New plans reduce pollution

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

[Utah]
New plans reduce pollution

"Gutter Talk" is a monthly column intended to educate and inform Base
personnel and families regarding storm water and the environment.

A lot of progress has been made to clean up America's lakes, rivers, and
streams over the past 30 years. Rivers don't catch on fire anymore, fish
kills are down, and the quality of sewage treatment has improved
dramatically.

But even with all the laws and regulations, nearly 40 percent of the
nation's waters remain too polluted for fishing, swimming and other
uses. Polluted runoff is the source of most of this water contamination.

Since 1990, Clean Water Act provisions, known as the Phase I rule, has
required population centers of 100,000 people or more to obtain permits
before they can discharge storm water into lakes, rivers or other bodies
of water. Because of their limited size, military installations had been
exempt. In October 1999, however, the EPA released the Phase II rule,
which requires municipalities with populations less than 100,000 in
urbanized areas to obtain storm water discharge permits.

Although these new Phase II regulations won't take effect until June
2003, the Hill AFB storm water management team is already preparing.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.hilltoptimes.com/story.asp?edition=81&storyid=2163

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