Managing overflows in sewers should never be overlooked due to the amount of damage that can occur from it. The EPA estimates that 549,490,887 gallons of raw sewage was released in 2021. This type of sewage overflow leads to public health threats, financial damage, environmental damage, and months of costly clean up. Understanding underlying causes of sewer overflow and how new technologies can help prevent them will save your water treatment operations tremendous amounts of time and money.
The number one purpose of above ground sewer systems is to contain the wastewater that flows into them but there are factors that can overwhelm the system and lead to overflow — something that our technology is able to minimize. Too much rainfall or snowmelt, pipe failures, and grease and oil buildup all contribute to systems failing and lead to overflows.
Once these overflows occur, it can be hard to contain, and the force of the rushing water can be extremely powerful.
Real life occurrences of overflows happen more often than we even realize. In 2020 Henderson County, North Carolina experienced 3 dozen sewer overflows after 12 hours of heavy rainfall. This led to the roads being flooded and enough water to lift construction barrels. The day after the rainfall, more than 5 thousand gallons of water waste flowed through the county.
Armed with the right knowledge BEFORE an incident improves the chance of avoiding overflow. Technology that converts data collection into actionable insight allows system operators to prepare in advance for potential upticks in flows. Monitoring technology that includes not only system overviews of pump flows and pressure but also ties into weather tracking takes data to the next level with predictive capabilities.
Wastewater pump stations can easily be retrofitted with a sensor box that feeds directly into a monitoring platform for substantially lower cost than a cleanup after the fact. This is the first step in taking precautions prior to a catastrophic sewage event happening. Additionally, monitoring solutions allow for improvement of the system’s reliability, reduction in costly process additives like chemicals and aeration needs and can predict potential failures across the entire wastewater treatment system.
Learn more about avoiding sewage overflows and reducing operational costs from a STREAMETRIC wastewater expert today.
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