Learn more about how raw sewage is still being dumped into clean water around the world.
Even though there are waste water treatment plants that work to reduce the amount of raw sewage that enters the environment, waste water continues to be dumped into the ocean and other bodies of water daily. An example of this occurring is in Canada. In 2015 about 205 billion liters of raw sewage were dumped into rivers and the ocean despite regulatory laws that were passed in 2012. This is due to the fact that waste water treatment plants cost too much to build and operate. It was estimated that even in a small town containing around 4000 citizens a new treatment plant would cost upwards of 22 million dollars. It was found that even in a developed country like Canada, over 25 percent of the population don't have access to acceptable waste water treatment. This does not only effect Canada, but the entirety of the world. When the sewage is dumped into the environment it becomes a global problem effecting everybody. A suggestion for more rural areas is decentralized waste water treatment, however about 82 percent of the people live in urban areas where these would not be practical. This leads to the issue of who will pay for the treatment plants? The country is funding the effort however there is not enough to completely fix the problem fast. For now the only option is to continuously test the drinking water to be sure there aren't any harmful bacterias that could make people sick.
Another example of raw sewage making it into clean water sources is in Indore, India where 20% of raw sewage is dumped directly into the environment. The issue in Indore is the fact that the drainage for runoff is connected directly to the same pipes as the sewage. During monsoon season this becomes a huge problem because the pipes get overwhelmed with the flow of water and overflow into the streets. When water is treated it takes too long so it is easier to just dump it straight into the clean water. As a result 80% of the treatment facilities are shut down or closed off so the sewage doesn't enter the facilities. In order to solve this problem the pipes would have to be separated for runoff and sewage which is too costly at this point. However, there isn't a high level of urgency to solve the problem due to the fact that there aren't any regulations to prevent it.
So, even though there are treatment options for sewage there are still cases of it being dumped into clean water supplies. This is mostly due to the fact that they are very expensive to build and operate, as well as for fixing them if they fail. It is of great importance to keep innovating and create newer cheaper ways to treat waste water and sewage. Decentralized systems are very cheap and operate without the need of additional costs, however they may not be practical all the time. Especially in the cases that were noted above.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5868091/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sewage-pollution-wastewater-cities-1.3889072