The US Has a Scary Sewage Problem: Let's Clean It Up and Jumpstart the Economy While We're at It

[DreamGypsy]

1. Portland, Oregon, did it. The Big Pipe...

...from November 25, 2011, Portland's $1.4 billion Big Pipe project comes to an end after 20 years:

The biggest public works project in Portland history -- the overhaul of its antiquated wastewater system to divert raw sewage from flowing into the Willamette River and the Columbia Slough -- will come to a ceremonial conclusion next week.

City leaders won't mark the milestone with a polar-bear plunge or celebratory flush. Instead, they'll debut a 12-minute film -- "Working for Clean Rivers," narrated by Lesley Stahl -- at Wednesday's Portland City Council meeting.

The Big Pipe project -- which included the construction of massive underground tunnels on both sides of the river, a pipeline along the slough and an expanded pump station to carry overflows to a North Portland treatment plant -- has been online since September, with final touches to be wrapped up by Dec. 14.

By any definition, the end has been a long time coming.

Portland launched the project in 1991 under pressure from environmental activists and state regulators. The city set the final budget of $1.4 billion -- paid by Portland ratepayers -- in 2005.

Before, runoff and sewage flowed into the river and slough when storms overtaxed the sewer system -- as often as 50 times a year. As the city grew, "the nature of the runoff became more troubling, and our standards changed," U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who oversaw the program's inception as a city commissioner, said in a recent interview.

More at the link.