Last Saturday, while Buffaloians explored their new waterfront public space during the Healthy Lakes, Healthy Lives Tour, there was something floating in the Commercial Slip. While the Earth Voyager, which landed late Wednesday night, was docked at the slip there was something else that caught a few peoples eyes and noses. These suspicious floating objects appeared to have come from the rainstorms Thursday night. I asked staff from Buffalo Place and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and they agreed: the large brown floating masses were sewage overflow.
The reality for Buffalo is that even while we celebrate our identity as Queen City of the Great Lakes and raise awareness to restore this precious resource, we have a long way to go and we need to start doing our part NOW.
The Commercial Slip is one of the many combined sewer outflows in the aging Buffalo sewage infrastructure. Buffalo’s system is a combined system, which means sewer and storm wastes flow in the same pipe. When a heavy rainstorms produces runoff that is greater than the sewage treatment system can handle, there are many points along the system where sewage and rainwater simply overflows into surface. Unfortunately, the heart and soul of the new Inner Harbor is one of those points. So every time there is a heavy rain storm, we can just wait for the sewage overflow to appear.
While visitors enjoyed the tables and tents handing out information about how to protect and restore the Great Lakes, we all watched the sewage, which overflowed into the Slip Thursday night and settled to the bottom after that, raise to the surface as it released gas during decomposition. Is this really what we want our residents and visitors to see?
As disgusting as it was, it gave a few people a personal experience proving how important stormwater management is and proved the need for immediate action. Personal action, like putting a rain barrel in your backyard to cut down on stormwater going into our sewage system. Or political action, like talking to every elected official you can reach to demand that sewage overflows are stopped.
On Monday we wished the Earth Voyager bon voyage. Lets hope there isn’t any sewage stuck to the boat.
(Click here to see a past Great Lakes United post explaining combined sewer overflows and what can be done about them)