Yes, Your Sewage Spills Into Waterways When It Rains

In the latest article in NY Times' series "Toxic Waters," about the "worsening pollution in American waters, and regulators’ response," the focus is on sewer systems. And the main example is here in NYC, starting at the Owls Head Water Pollution Control Plant, "where much of Brooklyn’s sewage is treated." And you will never think about a rain fall the same way again.

A few miles away, people were walking home without umbrellas from late dinners. But at Owls Head, a swimming pool’s worth of sewage and wastewater was soon rushing in every second. Warning horns began to blare. A little after 1 a.m., with a harder rain falling, Owls Head reached its capacity and workers started shutting the intake gates.
That caused a rising tide throughout Brooklyn’s sewers, and untreated feces and industrial waste started spilling from emergency relief valves into the Upper New York Bay and Gowanus Canal.

“It happens anytime you get a hard rainfall,” said Bob Connaughton, one the plant’s engineers. “Sometimes all it takes is 20 minutes of rain, and you’ve got overflows across Brooklyn.”

The city's DEP deputy commissioner James Roberts explains, "When you get five inches of rain in 30 minutes, it’s like Thanksgiving Day traffic on a two-lane bridge in the sewer pipes."

Many sewage systems dump untreated or partly untreated waste into water ways, but the Times reports, "fewer than one in five sewage systems that broke the law were ever fined or otherwise sanctioned by state or federal regulators." And federal money to improve them has fallen 70% in the past two decades. Connaughton says, "The public has no clue how important these sewage plants are Waterborne disease was the scourge of mankind for centuries. These plants stopped that. We’re doing everything we can to clean as much sewage as possible, but sometimes, that isn’t enough."

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By Jen Chung in News on November 23, 2009 4:10 PM

Comments [rss]

Kojak

You think this is bad, check out what happens in London. It all overflows into the Thames. Talk about swimming up shits creek.

PKMKII

Does it ever stink in Bay Ridge when the Owl's Head plant overflows into the Narrows.

Dead Himmler

It stinks in Bay Ridge regardless.

yamon

This is why I don't eat Mexican food before a storm

jt10000

This is exactly the sort of thing the federal government should be helping states and municipalities pay to fix. Now is the time for big investment in fixing and improving our infrastructure, both to create jobs and to set us up for the future.

dr zippy

Socialist!

blueruin

I thought that the facility pictured was able to handle a significant increase in volume during storm events. That is what the project architect asserted during the Open House New York.

Not that that is representative of the entire system, which clearly has problems. But to focus on pictures of a facility that is ostensibly designed to address the issue (without noting that fact) seems a little unfair.

JenChungsBaby

The Newtown Creek plant like all the city's 14 sewage treatment plants has a rated daily capacity as licensed by the state DEC (I believe 310 MGD). The max daily capacity -- what the plant can handle on any particular rainy day -- is double that, but still much lower than what the local drainage area will receive during a moderate rain. So you still get combined sewer overflows in that area, even with the upgraded plant. The upgrade didn't address the plant capacity, just its treatment processes.

blueruin

I could have sworn that the rep specifically addressed the issue of increased capacity. But I may have been distracted by the pretty lights.

JenChungsBaby

You're right -- The DEP website says that the plant will have a 700 MGD wet-weather capacity after the upgrade, which would mean it's licensed for 350 MGD daily operation. That's 40 MGD above its old license, so there is some increased capacity from the upgrade but still not enough to stop combined sewer overflows there.