By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – The Citizens' Environmental Coalition said Wednesday it has learned that the Niagara Falls Wastewater Treatment Plant is no longer using chlorine gas at the facility.
Ironically, the Coalition learned of the change just hours after appearing outside the Buffalo Avenue plant to call for the plant's eleimination of chlorine.
Coalition spokesman Mike Schade said that according Wastewater Treatment officials, the plant stopped using the chlorine gas in June.
Schade said it is now a growing trend for wastewater plants to switch to less toxic materials.
"A wastewater treatment facility in Michigan also posed a similar risk and switched to ultra violet light for disinfecting their waste," said Schade. "A plant in Georgia did the same. And another facility in New Jersey switched to a sodium hypo-chloride, which is a stronger version of household bleach."
Environmental Defense released a report that finds 45-sewage plants around the U.S. continue using chlorine gas in heavily populated areas.