Don't be hasty

The Killen Town Council is planning to construct a sewage treatment plant in order to bring more businesses to the town. I am not questioning the need for a sewage treatment plant; however, I do question the decision to build it in the area of Mill Creek and Bluewater Creek with the treated waste discharging in the creeks.

The EPA has listed sewage treatment plants and sewage plant overflows as a source of toxins contributing to poor or fair stream quality. EPA established technology-based effluent standards that industries had to meet.

EPA acknowledged in 1986 that those standards were not being met. An estimated 37 percent of toxic industrial compounds entering our surface waters did so by passing through sewage treatment plants, according to the same 1986 EPA report. Nutrients in sewage foster excessive growth of algae and other aquatic plants.

Those plants then die and decay, depleting the dissolved oxygen needed by fish. Moreover, poorly treated wastewater may contain bacteria and chemicals harmful to both humans and aquatic life.

For the most part, pollution is invisible, and may take years to display its destructiveness. Since the effects of most pollution are long term, we must have long-term views about effects on wildlife and its habitat. Decisions that have long-term effects on the water that our children drink and use for recreation should be made with deliberation.

Mill and Bluewater creeks are home to a tremendous variety of plants and animals. So many times, we humans have spoiled these beautiful areas with hasty decisions.

Why take the risk of polluting these creeks when there are other options? These waters and habitat cannot be replaced at any price.

Joan Cox

Killen