OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER
Introduction
Clean water is vital to public health, environmental and social well-being, and economic development. One of the most important elements in maintaining clean water in urban areas involves a system of sanitary sewers that direct wastewater to treatment before it is released into surrounding streams, rivers, lakes or oceans. This responsibility largely falls to local governments. Most large urban areas in New York State are served by municipal sewer systems, many of which commingle the water from rain and snow melt (“stormwater”) with the wastewater from homes and businesses in “combined sewer systems.” The flows from combined sewers can overwhelm treatment systems and have a harmful impact on the environment.
Numerous recent news reports have highlighted instances of systems unable to handle the increased volume stemming from major weather events. The details are troubling: raw sewage being flushed directly into rivers, streams and lakes that are also used for recreation including boating, swimming, fishing and in some cases, drinking water. For citizens who may have been unaware of the situation, this news brings into question long-held assumptions about the natural resources they enjoy on a daily basis.
The problem itself is not new, but State regulations now require that sewer system owners must report all discharges of untreated or partially treated waste into waterbodies in real time.1 This change is both a challenge and an opportunity for local officials. On one hand, the negative press works against their efforts to encourage more recreation along their waterfronts, especially when any incident may be amplified on social media. On the other hand, increased awareness might cause residents and businesses to be more inclined to support the cost of fixing the problem.
The solutions are not simple or quick. These systems are some of the largest and oldest in the State. Full scale replacement with separated sanitary and storm sewers is often unrealistic, as it would be extremely costly and disruptive. However, many systems have seen improvements through a mix of retrofitting limited sections of sewer and treatment infrastructure, conducting basic repairs on others, and applying green infrastructure techniques that slow the movement of stormwater in order to prevent overflow in the first place.
This approach requires thoughtful long-term planning and sustained effort, which can be challenging when other priorities compete for scarce budget resources. However, the implementation of such solutions is vital to the quality of life in many of New York’s metropolitan areas. Intense wet weather events have been occurring more frequently according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), giving the issue greater urgency. This report, as part of the Office of the State Comptroller’s infrastructure series, describes the current scale of the problem in the State and some of the steps being taken to remediate it.
Federal and State Roles
Combined sewer systems are regulated by both EPA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Federal laws including the Clean Water Act (CWA) and EPA rules set the basic regulatory structure and water quality standards, and standardize permitting. Within New York, State laws and DEC regulations implement and in some cases broaden these basic standards for public water systems. Several directly affect combined sewer systems, including:
- The State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES): This program, which is approved by EPA to control surface wastewater and stormwater discharges in accordance with the CWA, requires the operators of all potential “point sources” to obtain a permit through DEC.4 (A point source is any identifiable confined source of pollution, such as a wastewater treatment plant, from which effluent is discharged or emitted.) DEC permit amounts are based on the maximum amount of pollutants that can be discharged into a waterbody; the limits also largely determine the level of required treatment. Permit holders with combined sewer overflows (CSOs) are required to comply with DEC best practices, including projecting the frequency and volume of anticipated discharges. In addition, DEC requires most of them to prepare and abide by an approved long-term control plan to reduce overflows.
- Consent Orders: A consent order is a negotiated agreement between DEC and a community with a CSO. The agency uses this method as one of the tools of enforcement when the quality or speed of follow-through on planned corrections is unsatisfactory. The order would include a schedule of compliance for the design, construction and implementation of the approved CSO control methods, and development of an operational plan and post-construction monitoring.
- The Sewage Pollution Right to Know Act (SPRTK Act): When a municipal wastewater treatment facility discharges untreated or partially treated combined sewage into a waterbody, this law requires the facility operator to report the activity to DEC and the local health department immediately (but no later than two hours from the incident) and to local officials in nearby affected communities within four hours. DEC collects and publicly posts the self-reported data on both DEC and EPA websites. (See the “Number and Volume of Discharges” section below.)
- In 2018, EPA implemented the Public Notification Requirements for Combined Sewer Overflows to the Great Lakes Basin.10 The new rule is similar to New York’s SPRTK Act but adds new federal reporting requirements and increased signage at outfalls. Seventeen communities in New York State – including the Village of Massena (which releases to the St. Lawrence River), the City of Rochester (Lake Ontario) and the City of Niagara Falls (Lake Erie) – will be affected.
Municipal and Combined Sewer Systems
Most of New York’s sewer systems were originally designed to collect residential, commercial and industrial sewage together with stormwater and other liquids and then discharge it all into a nearby river or other waterbody. When methods were developed to treat sewage, treatment plants were added to the existing infrastructure.
Today, sewage also includes a great deal of “gray water” from washing machines and bathtubs, and water collected in storm drains includes runoff from many human activities, such as lawn overwatering and car washing. Older infrastructure was not designed with these newer flows in mind, nor was it built to handle the increases in volume due to population growth and land development. Even newer, separated sanitary sewers can struggle with these challenges.
During wet weather events, when large quantities of stormwater enter combined sewers, treatment facilities may not have the capacity to treat the resulting large volume of combined water. Some of the untreated, or partially untreated, discharge is instead sent directly to receiving rivers, streams, estuaries and coastal waters. These systems actually permit these overflows deliberately, so that the volume doesn’t damage the facility and the excess sewage doesn’t back up into people’s homes or onto public streets. (See Figure 1 below.)
Effects on Human and Environmental Health
Sewage discharges of any kind have a negative impact on the quality of the receiving waterbody. In most cases, wastewater does not come into direct contact with drinking water, since even the earliest sewer system outfalls were located far from drinking water intakes, but contaminants may still have the potential to affect drinking water systems downstream, or have other indirect effects. A period of wet weather can also make a river, stream, lake or shoreline unfit for swimming or fishing, and if it is bad enough, the odor can be unpleasant, potentially affecting nearby residences and businesses. The closing of beaches for high levels of bacteria such as E.coli are a regular occurrence from Mamaroneck on Long Island Sound to Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario to countless other locations across the State. In 2017, releases by the Niagara Falls treatment plant received international press coverage, as discolored, odiferous water surrounded boating tourists who had come to experience the natural wonder of the Falls.
The release of sewage and collected runoff can also have negative effects on the environmental health of the receiving waterbody and its ecosystem, as it increases the nutrient density of the water. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are overgrowths of algae in nutrient-rich water. They can produce dangerous toxins that sicken people, kill animals, create dead zones in the waterbody and harm local economies. They also raise treatment costs for drinking water, and even then, treatment may not produce desired results. The City of Auburn’s drinking water source, Owasco Lake, was found to be contaminated by HAB toxins even after treatment. HABs have become such a problem in New York waterbodies (in 2017, DEC listed 150) that the State recently held a series of summits on the topic.
Download full version (PDF): A Partially Treated Problem: Overflows from Combined Sewers
About the New York State Comptroller
www.osc.state.ny.us
The New York State Comptroller is the State’s chief fiscal officer who ensures that State and local governments use taxpayer money effectively and efficiently to promote the common good.
Tags: New York, New York State Comptroller, NY, Runoff, sewage, Sewer systems, stormwater, Thomas P. DiNapoli
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