United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
June 2000832-F-00-005
4204
Benefits of
Protecting Your
Community From
Sanitary Sewer
Overflows
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Sanitary Sewer Overflow Control Enhances Community Life
YDur community can benefit from EPA's proposed sanitary
sewer overflow control requirements - in ways that go
:ar beyond reducing the amount of sewage entering your
environment. The sewer system is a hidden resource that
contributes to your quality of life and to your community's
long-term success. It is there for you every time you empty
your kitchen sink, flush a toilet, take a shower, or wash a load of
laundry. The overflow control requirements will help protect the sewer system and make sure it
is there for you in the future.
A sanitary sewer overflow is an unintentional release of sewage from a collection system before
it reaches the treatment plantThe sewage can contaminate groundwater or surface water,
causing serious water quality problems and threatening drinking water supplies. It can also back
up into basements. Overflows are unhealthy, destructive to public and private property, bad for
recreation and tourism, and hard on sanitary sewer and drinking water system equipment.
Unfortunately, they are a chronic and growing problem in many parts of the country.
When is your sewer system operating at its best? When you don't smell it, hear it gurgling in
your basement, or see it spill onto your public beach! You are paying for this service, either
through local taxes or usage fees. Be a smart investor: learn about the sewer overflow control
requirements, and support your local sanitation authority in its efforts to implement them.
Keeping sewage in the sewer leads to...
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Healthier communities that enjoy ...
Cleaner water, with fewer:
Viruses that can cause stomach flu, upper respiratory infections, ear infections, and other
diseases
Bacteria that cause diarrhea, skin rashes, hepatitis, cholera, salmonella, or other diseases
Worms and protozoa that can cause cryptosporidiosis or other diseases
Less exposure to these harmful organisms while:
Swimming
Drinking tap water
Eating locally-caught fish and shellfish
Less danger to children, the elderly, and people with
suppressed immune systems who:
Are more likely
to catch sewage-
borne diseases
than healthy
adults
Are more likely
to develop the
most serious
forms of disease
Are more likely
to spread disease
to other people,
causing secondary
outbreaks
Centers for
Disease
Control,
1998.
Surveillance
for
Waterborne
Disease
Outbreaks,
1995-1998.
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Homeowners who can count on
Protection from basement flooding that can damage:
Building foundations
Floor and wall coverings
Furniture
Plumbing, electrical system, and appliances
Personal property
Landscaping
More money for community development and
improvement, instead of:
Homeowners and/or sewer
authorities paying cleanup
and repair costs of between A|j R , , weekend
$700 and $4,000 per home MIICe NSner Went awa' Iast weeKena
for damages that are rarely confident that the $ 10,000 she had spent to
flood-proof her home.. .would prevent a
repeat of last year's flood [which] ravaged her
house. No such luck...Fisher, like hundreds of
other residents in Boston's South End, found
that once again her home was devastated.The
culprit wasn't just rainwater-it was sewage,
hundreds of gallons of filthy sludge that poured
into some of the most expensive real estate in
the city.
.
«,
covered by insurance
Nationwide, communities
paying hundreds of millions
or even billions of dollars
to clean up and repair
overflow damage to public
sewer infrastructure, roads
and other transportation
assets, parks and recreation
areas, and municipal water
supplies
Court judgments against
sewer authorities that lead
to expensive individual or
class action damage awards
and legal fees
The Boston Globe, Sep. 15,1999. "Holding their
breaths; City's sewage-flooded residents brace
and ask why."
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Waterfront vacationers who look forward to
Local beaches that are open and safe for
recreation:
Of the 1.8 billion annual trips made to a public waterfront, about 4.5 million are for
swimming or boating
In 1998, beachgoers faced 7,400 closures and advisories, at least 16% of them due to
overflowing sewers that could expose swimmers to disease
Many overflows go unmonitored and unreported, putting swimmers at unknown risk
Fish and shellfish that are safer to eat and more
plentiful because:
They are not eating harmful bacteria, viruses, and protozoa that can be passed up the
food chain to humans
They are not accu-
mulating sewage-
borne metals and
toxic contaminants
that are harmful to
humans
Their ecosystem is
not altered by the
excess nutrients and
solids in sewage that
can lower light levels,
increase the water
temperature, and
favor the growth of
harmful algae
Natural
Resource
Defense
Council,
1999.
Testing the
Waters: A
Guide to
Water
Quality at
Vacation
Beaches.
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Taxpayers who know their tax dollars really do work ...
To protect one of the largest investments
their community has ever made, with:
Periodic assessment of system function and capacity
Ongoing maintenance to extend capacity and useful life
Making needed repairs, upgrades and expansions before failures occur
Educating business and residential system users on proper disposal of oil
and grease, etc.
To lay the foundation for local and regional
growth by:
Providing businesses with needed access to sewer and water services
Keeping city centers strong and controlling sprawl by offering high-quality
sewer, water and other utilities in urban areas to encourage business to stay
or return
A$9 million expansion of the Coudersport, Pennsylvania
VWTP eliminated chronic overflows to the Allegheny River
nd replaced a large number of failing septic systems with
new sewer connections. It also helped convince a communications
company to build their new operations center in the area rather
than move to New Yorksaving 500 local jobs and netting $ 12
million private investment in the community.
Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority, 2000.
Paul Marchetti, Executive Director
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Case Study: Sewer Overflow Control Pays Off for Fayetteville
Eyetteville, Arkansas is a rapidly-growing Ozark Mountain
ommunity of 53,000. Reports of numerous overflows from
he I 10-year-old sewer system began in the late 1980s, with
frequent flooding of homes, streets, and parks. In 1992, the city
began an eight-year collection system rehabilitation program. At a
cost of just under $50 per resident per year, the sewer overflow
control program has so far yielded the following results:
Backups have been significantly reduced;
With less rain water and ground water leaking into the collection
system, flow to the treatment plant has not increased since 1992,
even though flow from new sewer connections increased by 40%;
Rehabilitated sewer lines provide better system function with
more efficient operation and maintenance;
City staff reduced after-hours emergency responses from two to
three each night to fewer than one a month;
Extensive training helped the sewer authority staff learn to work
with developers and homeowners to minimize potential overflow
problems through improved siting and design of new buildings;
Restaurant and food processing facilities responded
enthusiastically to a program to reduce line-clogging grease in the
system; and
System capacity is reassessed as each line is rehabilitated,
providing vital data for long-term planning.
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For More Information
EPA's Office of Water maintains extensive information
~egarding sanitary sewer overflow control requirements,
ncluding fact sheets, responses to frequently asked questions,
implementation guidance, and case study examples of communities
that are already benefitting from their infrastructure investment. To
learn about ways to protect community waterways from sewer
overflows and other wet weather impacts, visit our website at:
www.epa.gov/owm/wet.htm
Or contact us by mail at:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Mail Code 4203 (SSO)
Washington, B.C. 20460
(202)260-7786
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