The reason sewage overflows is that our storm water doesn't go into the ground, where it is supposed to go.

As new developments go into the many shovel-ready sites in the area, it's a chance to mitigate the pavement-stormwater problem with products like Rainstore3 (http://www.invisiblestructures.com/RS3/rainstore.htm).

When it's time to replace the driveway at my house, I plan on getting rid of most of pavement in favor of a grass driveway (http://www.invisiblestructures.com/GP2/grasspave.htm), which, believe it or not, is still shovel-able and snow-plow-able. (Sorry to use the S-word in June.)

I spoke to a landscaper about this product, and he said he has seen it and others like it, and would love to install it for his customers, but his customers don't want to pay more than standard pavement. I can understand wanting to save money, but in the long run, it would be worth it.

how much water can you keep out of the combined sewer??? calculate here! http://www.lid-stormwater.net/bio_sizing.htm

apparently someone in buffalo was eating corn.

I literally laughed out loud at TonyMacaroni's comment. Best comment EVER on this web site!!!

could you tell us who the oar belongs to just in case we ever need to borrow one & know who not to ask.

Such a beautiful pic!

The Erie County water authority's intakes are just a couple mile upstream from this and about the 25+ other overflows that buffalo has... If anything you would think that alone would prompt some regional action against storm water run off.

If not then, Buffalo will continue to have polluted waters and Erie County will have sub par water and ALL of us won't have the waterfront and environment we deserve.

I do hope that since it this issue is finally blatantly in the public eye some actual attention will be put on this issue.

P-U!

this location is just beggin for a starbucks or some kind of eatery - without the poopie smell of course

Glad I read this story NOW, I was planning on going down there to check things out. I think I'll pass (probably forever)!

GEEZ...DONT GET EXCITED..THESE ARE JUST REMNANTS ....COMING FROM CITY HALL!

out of all the VERY funny comments here, "ALLTHINGSBUFFALO" was the one to make me spew my coffee! What a good morning laugh...

That's the smell of authenticity!

It is the Hamburg sewer that overflows into the slip (not from the town - it is simply the name of the sewer). Although it wouldn't improve the environmental impact, couldn't that be diverted elsewhere until a better solution is found? After all the money put into the project, it is a shame to ignore this and turn people off. I was there a couple of weeks ago and there was a similar sight - plastic bags, trash, etc from the sewer pouring into the commercial slip and a guy from Buffalo Place attempting to clean it with what looked like a pool strainer.

ElmwoodBoy - Great Lakes United is a nongovernment coalition of organizations from throughout the entire Great Lakes, from the Thousands Islands and the St Lawrence River to the western edge of Lake Superior. GLU is also a binational organization that has members from the United States and Canada. GLU focuses on issues that will require basin wide solutions such as invasive species and water diversions. Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper is a member of the GLU coalition. While I can't speak for Riverkeeper, they are a group of extremely dedicated and talented staff and volunteers that focus on issues that directly address the Buffalo and Niagara River watersheds right here in our backyard. These issues include the combined sewer overflows in Buffalo and contaminated sediments in the Buffalo River. BNR is in charge of the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) for the Buffalo River. (http://www.bnriverkeeper.org/programs/tributary/buffalo_river/Buffalo_river.htm)

As you can see, these two groups work on many of the same issues and are both advocates for restoring and protecting our water for everyone. It is through this kind of cooperation and collaboration, and the work of volunteer community members, that we can hopefully take on some of these challenges.

This is occuring all over the Great Lakes, on the East and West Coasts, in all our countries rivers and in Hawaii. Two years ago a sewage pipe broke in Honolulu and a man in the Ala Moana harbour fell off his sailboat into raw poop sewage and caught flesh eating disease and died.

During heavy rain fall most of the sewage systems in North America cannot handle the amount of rain water and sewage coming to the treament facilities therefore part of the flow gets piped directly into our fresh water.

How about the nuclear radiation in the water that came from the southern tier nuclear facility and from radioactive urine that people pass after a CAT scan? How about all the pharmaceutical drugs that end up in the fresh water after people use the tiolet? How about the lawn and golf course run off of pesticides? The water we should protect is used a dump. The air we breathe is a subsidy for coal buring plants in Jamestown and Tonawanda. The cars and trucks we drive pollute the air. Area Code 14213 on the West Side of Buffalo has the highest respiratory rate in WNY.

Robert F Keenedy Jr spoke in Amherst last year. He said that good stewardship of natural resouces is good for business. To waste the subsidies of air and water is too be inefficent use of resources. Water and air subsidies that are used should be returned from where they were taken as good as they were when taken or in better condition.

It is a fact that the sewage infrastucture in the United States of America and Canada requires a massive revamping that is costly and expensive. We seam to be able to tolerate all sorts of waste as part of a system that has made all of us into consumers instead of citizens. Many peope think that nature has the means to clean up the world wide destruction we have unleashed on the natural world. Our species through mass consumpton is devasting this planet at a rapid pace. The poo on that paddle is like the air we breathe. It has been turned into a polluted garbage dump.

Buildings that should be saved are allowed to fall apart in Buffalo, trees get planted but not cared for, and sewage flows down the Buffalo River to the Niagara River. Children go to disfunctional public schools. Crime cameras replace police on streets. Noise ordinances are no longer enforced. Bullets fly inightly.

This is the ugly part of Buffalo is similar to eating too many chicken wings and too much pizza. One day the rain pours and the sewage flows into the water. One day the widow maker artery clots up and we are dead.. The way we choose to live in a corrupt and disfunctional culture is made manafest by polluted rivers and high incidents of heart and respiratory disease.

The need for a complete redesign of the local political system which replaces oligarcy and vested party politics with inclusive community empowerment is required. We are trapped into thinking that the status quo will somehow protect and foster enrichment of our community. Instead repression by the ruling class and the powerful is circulating poo upon the people of Buffalo. Change it and the water will become cleaner. In Buffalo we are only one degree from seperation of poop. Let us now praise famous men. This is a reference to a great work of American literature which documents those who work and struggle to earn their keep, feed hungry mouths, and cloth their children. What cinnection does this have to the condition of the water on Buffalo's waterfront you might say? We are part of one planet and from the same species of humanity. We have the ability to look away, sneer, ridicule, laugh off, or change the Buffalo River and the Great Lakes and oceans into cleaner rivers, lakes, and oceans. We have the power to change government or alter it.

There goes a car down the street rattling every window on the block. They say we should call 911. There goes a piece of poop down the Buffalo River and they say we should vote for people who should be standing up for us but instead hand cash over to Bass Pro. Change needs to come. Change comes first to the mind and than to a body. Change is Jeffesonian and revolutionary.

The silver lining of an ugly 'cloud' might be that this very public opportunity to view the problem could stimulate real afforts to address it.

Being on the Mississippi River, Minneapolis has the same problem with its combined sewage system. The city has heavily promoted rainwater retention ponds for commercial & public spaces,& raingardens for residential properties. They can be very effective in limiting rainwater runoff, except in the heaviest of storms.

The city even imposes a "rainwater run-off fee" for the square footage of impervious surface on each property, in order to pay for needed upgrades.

Public education is important to get more folks sensitive to a serious issue. Simple measures such as minimizing water use (laundry, bathing, etc) during & after rainstorms can be helpful too.

Just remember, we drink the water flowing throught upstream cities . .and downstream cities drink ours.

THIS PROBLEM IS NOT FIXED! I biked to the waterfront today and there was much debris floating in the canal. And then there was the smell! That awful, sewer smell. We were lead to believe that this only happens when there is a heavy downpour (which is bad enough) but there have only been small doses of rain lately. It is disgusting. This has got to be resolved before we can even begin to talk about commercial development (besides Bass Pro of course...)