Fort Wayne contests Sen. Kirk video on Great Lakes pollution

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A Fort Wayne utility official says a video an Illinois lawmaker’s office posted on YouTube about the city’s Great Lakes pollution impact is “patently false.”

The video posted by Illinois Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s office accuses Fort Wayne of dumping 7.5 billion gallons of sewage into Lake Erie’s tributaries each year and lists the city as a worse polluter than Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit.

The News-Sentinel reports that Justin Brugger of Fort Wayne City Utilities told City Council members who watched the video Tuesday that the segment is “patently false” and “just absurd.”

Brugger says it exaggerates Fort Wayne’s annual sewage overflows by 6.5 billion gallons. He says Fort Wayne actually releases about 1 billion gallons of sewage and storm water into Lake Erie’s tributaries each year.

Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit also are on the list.