The news-media spent a good deal of time the other day talking about the New York City subway floods. As the New York Times pointed out:

"Most of New York City's 6,000 miles of sewage lines are dual use; they handle rain runoff as well as sewage and industrial wastewater in the same pipes, before delivering the mixture to the city's 14 wastewater treatment plants. Heavy rains perennially overwhelm the pipes, causing the flow to back up, dumping everything from fecal matter and household trash to industrial pollutants like oil, grease and heavy metals into the city's waterways and streets.

About 40 billion gallons of rain and sewage water per year overflow onto city streets and into waterways, leading not just to transportation headaches but also to serious health and environmental hazards as the overflow spills raw sewage, trash and pollutants. The overflow also pollutes the waterways around the oceanfront and is blamed for the poor water quality around the city's beaches."

Most of the water flooding the subway came through street level vents, where rain was mixing with sewage overflowing from city's combined sewer system. It is inevitable that there was sewage in the subway. Sewage overflows in cities like New York are so commonplace that this gross and dangerous part of the story unfortunately gets buried in the story.

Now the Spills of the Week:

Spillow Tree Brook: Grease blocked a sewer pipe causing more than 6,000 gallons of sewage to overflow. Most of the raw sewage ended up in Willow Tree Brook, while the rest backed up into homes. "It's sickening," Shirley Cohen said about the smell.
- August 2 & 3, 2007: The Journal News - White Plains, NY

Five Mile Wreak: A tributary of Five Mile Creek in Birmingham, AL received more than 5000 gallons of raw sewage from a sewer line break. It is unknown what caused the spill, but the line has been repaired.
- August 3, 2007: The Birmingham News - Birmingham, AL

Brownwater, River: Wet weather caused the overflow of sewage into the East Fork Whitewater River in Richmond, IN. The combined sewer overflow alert was issued Sunday afternoon by the Richmond Department of Sanitation. Authorities issued an advisory stating that contact with river water downstream should be avoided for 72 hours and that river water could cause illness.
- August 5, 2007: Palladium Item - Richmond, IN

Stinkton, Delaware: Man, did they mess this one up. A sewage pump failure was originally reported by sewer authorities to have released a mere 5000 gallons of sewage near Stanton, DE. Turns out they were off by just a little bit - by little I mean EIGHT MILLION gallons! A failed warning system resulted in a 13 hour delay of the discovery of the spill by Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control authorities, giving time for the tides to move the pollution up and down White Clay Creek. Fishermen found so many fish dead or dying that they couldn't keep count of them.
- August 6, 2007: The News-Journal - Wilmington, DE
- August 9, 2007: The News-Journal - Wilmington, DE

Lake Eewy: The lead to the Plain Dealer story about a sewage overflow into Lake Erie in Cleveland, OH says it all: "Don't try to cool off in Lake Erie Wednesday near downtown. Swimmers are being discouraged from going into the water at Edgewater Park because Tuesday's heavy rainstorms forced the release of raw sewage mixed with rainwater."
- August 7, 2007: Cleveland Plain Dealer - Cleveland, OH

Lake Spew Gardens: A Sewer line belonging to the Lake Vue Gardens neighborhood in Kirkland, WA broke and spilled sewage into a nearby swimming area. Area residents were warned to stay out of the water at Juanita Beach which remains closed while investigators continue to monitor the water quality of the beach.
- August 8, 2007: KIRO TV New 7- Seattle, WA

Muckin', Georgia: A 6,300 gallon sewage spill contaminated Sabbath Creek in Macon, GA. But don't worry; State officials consider anything less than 10,000 gallons to be "minor."
- August 9, 2007: The Telegraph - Macon, GA

No More Excuses: "Sabotage" is no longer being cited as the cause of a 50,000 gallon sewage spill last November in Arkansas. The sewage had overflowed from a manhole cover and eventually made its way into the White River. That's a new way to avoid a fine, blame the spill on terrorism.
- August 9, 2007: The Baxter Bulletin - Mountain Home, AR