Disgusting

I have been aware that after heavy storms, sewage plants which combine sewer treatment and storm water, by pass large amount of untreated or minimally treated sewage.
I have also known that older pipes for the sanitary sewers are usually built below everything else and when it rains, the is infiltration of storm water into them.
What i did not know was that our multi million dollar state of the art sewage treatment plant, without having storm water to contend with would stop being able to treat sewage using the new UV system because of this infliltration of storm water.  This apparently has been going on since the system was installed some years ago, but never reported...that is until the person in charge finally retired earlier this year.
That this occurs is not as upsetting as the fact that the information was hidden from state and local officals who need to be aware of such things.  The hiddeness is also upsetting because there are many people, including myself, who has supported the idea that the sewage treatment plant was one of the best run in the nation.  That might not be so.
Do i think it impacted swimming areas - no.  The FDA did a dye test which showed it took more than 24 hours for the discharge waters to travel a mile to the end of a point at the end of the harbor the plant discharges into.
Do i think shellfish waters are affected - yes, especially with new research showing that viruses are much longer lived in shellfish (the study was specifically about oysters, but...) than bacteria and that the normal time for cleaning (called deputerization) after problems for viruses (which are the main culprit in sickness) is much longer than any one thought.
Thanks for hiding those facts from us. .. NOT!