narrator: pittsburgh is situated at the confluence of the allegheny, monongahela, and ohio rivers. these three rivers are vital for industry, recreation, and drinking water. and each year, billions of gallons of combined sewer overflows discharge directly into those rivers. hecht: we're now having to face the consequences of the choice that was made to put in combined sewer systems. narrator: in 1994, the government adopted a combined sewer overflow policy to reduce csos nationwide. cities with combined sewer overflows now face an enforcement action called a consent decree. under a consent decree, a city must reduce pollution levels significantly within a strict time frame or face heavy fines. in 1960, the combined sewer overflows were a perfectly legitimate way of dealing with sewers. woman: the mind set was that, what did it matter if we were sending our waste downstream? water was a good conveyance for pollution. man: sewer systems are installed to reduce public health problems. now what you're doing is transferring the problem, you're transferring it to downstream cities. in ad

protest postcards, stop the ban in houston, or stop the ban in portland, maine or stop the ban in monongahelawest virginia. they all got the same cards, mass produced for any place and every place overnight. clearly trying to look local trying to look grassrootsy and not something mass produced by the tobacco industry, which of course they were. the national smokers alliance printed up these coasters that magically appeared in your corner bar so when you were there drinking your beer you could rest your beer on their tobacco industry message. "you are being targeted. the prohibitionists want to prevent you from smoking here." if that was too scary maybe you'd choose to set your beer on this cute coaster instead, "resist prohibition." on the so-called newsletter from the national smokers alliance. it's called the resistance. the next year the newsletter featured the launch of "feet on the street," a nationwide grassroots effort designed to recruit new members. grassroots, yeah, right. the local papers would soon report this supposedly grassroots effort with came with a bounty of 75 cents a hea