When new pollutants start showing up in our waterways, clean-water plants often find themselves in the spotlight.
A new or emerging pollutant is detected in the water or in the tissues of fish downstream from the plants, and suddenly those plants are looked at (by some) as the source. In reality, the guilty chemical came from homes or businesses or both, through the collections system, and into the plant, which was neither designed nor required to treat for it.
Clean-water plants face the disadvantage of being at the end of the pipe, at the mercy of what comes in and, more
