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Sanitary Sewer Overflows
Frequently Asked Questions
The following is a list of Frequently Asked Questions for Sanitary Sewer Overflows organized from general questions about the NPDES Program to more technical questions about Sanitary Sewer Overflows.
Click here to search for other program-specific FAQs or to display a list of all NPDES FAQs. Please check back periodically for updates!
What are Sanitary Sewer Overflows?
Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) are discharges of raw sewage from municipal sanitary sewer systems. SSOs can release untreated sewage into basements or out of manholes and onto city streets, playgrounds and into streams before it can reach a treatment facility. SSOs are often caused by blockages in sewer lines and breaks in the sewer lines.
Why do sewers overflow?
SSOs occasionally occur in almost every sewer system, even though systems are intended to collect and contain all the sewage that flows into them. When SSOs happen frequently, it means something is wrong with the system.
Problems that can cause chronic SSOs include:
- Infiltration and Inflow (I&I): too much rainfall or snowmelt infiltrating through the ground into leaky sanitary sewers not designed to hold rainfall or to drain property, and excess water inflowing through roof drains connected to sewers, broken pipes, badly connected sewer service lines
- Undersized Systems: Sewers and pumps are too small to carry sewage from newly-developed subdivisions or commercial areas
- Pipe Failures: blocked, broken or cracked pipes; tree roots grow into the sewer; sections of pipe settle or shift so that pipe joints no longer match; and sediment and other material builds up causing pipes to break or collapse
- Equipment Failures: pump failures, power failures
- Sewer Service Connections: discharges occur at sewer service connections to houses and other buildings; some cities estimate that as much as 60% of overflows comes from the service lines
- Deteriorating Sewer System: improper installation, improper maintenance; widespread problems can be expensive to fix develop over time, some municipalities have found severe problems necessitating billion-dollar correction programs, often communities have to curtail new development until problems are corrected or system capacity is increased.
Why are SSOs a problem?
EPA has found that SSOs caused by poor sewer collection system management pose a substantial health and environmental challenge. The response to this challenge varies considerably from state to state. Many municipalities have asked for national consistency in the way permits are considered for wastewater discharges, including SSOs, and in enforcement of the law prohibiting unpermitted discharges.
In response, EPA has convened representatives of states, municipalities, health agencies, and environmental advocacy groups to advise the Agency on how to best meet this challenge. This SSO Federal Advisory Subcommittee examines the need for national consistency in permitting and enforcement, effective sewer operation and maintenance principles, public notification for SSOs with potential health or environmental dangers, and other public policy issues. EPA carefully considers the Subcommittee's recommendations for regulatory and nonregulatory actions to reduce SSOs nationally.
How big is the SSO problem?
The total number of SSOs that occur nationwide each year is not known. In some areas, they might not be reported or are underreported to EPA and state environmental agencies. Two surveys, however, help to define the size of the problem:
- In a 1994 survey of 79 members of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, 65 percent of the respondents reported wet weather SSOs(5). They reported that between 15 and 35 percent of their sewers were filled above capacity and/or overflowed during wet weather. However, municipal respondents with SSOs had only limited information about them. Only 60 percent had estimated the annual number. Half of those had estimated the amount of sewerage discharged, and 17 percent had determined what pollutants were in their overflows.
- A 1981 survey conducted by the National Urban Institute indicated an average of 827 backups and 143 breaks per 1,000 miles of sewer pipe (about 1,000 miles of sewer pipe are needed to serve 250,000 people.) per year. Breaks occurred most often in the young, growing cities of the South and West.
What health risks do SSOs present?
Because SSOs contain raw sewage they can carry bacteria, viruses, protozoa (parasitic organisms), helminths (intestinal worms), and borroughs (inhaled molds and fungi). The diseases they may cause range in severity from mild gastroenteritis (causing stomach cramps and diarrhea) to life-threatening ailments such as cholera, dysentery, infections hepatitis, and severe gastroenteritis.
People can be exposed through:
- Sewage in drinking water sources.
- Direct contact in areas of high public access such as basements, lawns or streets, or waters used for recreation. At least one study has estimated a direct relationship between gastrointestinal illness contracted while swimming and bacteria levels in the water.
- Shellfish harvested from areas contaminated by raw sewage. One study indicates that an average of nearly 700 cases of illness per year were reported in the 1980s from eating shellfish contaminated by sewage and other sources. The number of unreported cases is estimated to be 20 times that.
- Some cases of disease contracted through inhalation and skin absorption have also been documented.
What other damage can SSOs do?
SSOs also damage property and the environment. When basements flood, the damaged area must be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected to reduce the risk of disease. Cleanup can be expensive for homeowners and municipalities. Rugs, curtains, flooring, wallboard panels, and upholstered furniture usually must be replaced.
A key concern with SSOs that enter oceans, bays, estuaries, rivers, lakes, streams, or brackish waters is their effect on water quality. When bodies of water cannot be used for drinking water, fishing, or recreation, society experiences an economic loss. Tourism and waterfront home values may fall. Fishing and shellfish harvesting may be restricted or halted. SSOs can also close beaches. One 1994 study claims that SSOs closed beaches across the nation that year for a total of more than 300 days.
How can SSOs be reduced or eliminated?
Many avoidable SSOs are caused by inadequate or negligent operation or maintenance, inadequate system capacity, and improper system design and construction. These SSOs can be reduced or eliminated by:
- Sewer system cleaning and maintenance
- Reducing infiltration and inflow through system rehabilitation and repairing broken or leaking service lines.
- Enlarging or upgrading sewer, pump station, or sewage treatment plant capacity and/or reliability.
- Construction wet weather storage and treatment facilities to treat excess flows.
Communities also should address SSOs during sewer system master planning and facilities planning, or while extending the sewer system into previously unsewered areas.
A few SSOs may be unavoidable. Unavoidable SSOs include those occurring from unpreventable vandalism, some types of blockages, extreme rainstorms, and acts of nature such as earthquakes or floods.
What costs are involved with reducing or eliminating SSOs?
Sanitary sewer collection systems are a valuable part of the nation's infrastructure. EPA estimates that our nation's sewers are worth a total of more than $1 trillion. The collection system of a single large municipality is an asset worth billions of dollars and that of a smaller city could cost many millions to replace. Sewer rehabilitation to reduce or eliminate SSOs can be expensive, but the cost must be weighed against the value of the collection system asset and the added costs of this asset is allowed to further deteriorate. Ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation adds value to the original investment by maintaining the system's capacity and extending its life.
The costs of rehabilitation and other measures to correct SSOs can vary widely by community size and sewer system type. Those being equal, however, costs will be highest and ratepayers will pay more in communities that have not put together regular preventive maintenance or asset protection programs in place.
Assistance is available through the Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund for capital projects to control SSOs. State Revolving Funds in each state and Puerto can help arrange low-interest loans. For the name of your State Revolving Fund contact, please call the EPA Office of Water Resource Center, (202) 566-1729.
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