{"id":9657,"date":"2011-11-23T11:08:25","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T16:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=9657"},"modified":"2011-11-23T09:22:09","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T14:22:09","slug":"sewer-water-gets-too-close-for-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2011\/11\/23\/sewer-water-gets-too-close-for-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Sewer Water Gets Too Close for Comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"

While considering whether to pour your turkey grease down the drain this Thanksgiving or put it out for free curbside collection<\/a>, consider this: dumping grease contributes to Raleigh sewage ending up in the streets.<\/p>\n

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City Sewer Spills 2009-11<\/h2>\n

Note: Each city’s spills are not during the exact same timeframe, but during similar two-year periods from 2009 to 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

Raleigh<\/strong>
\nPopulation: 356,321
\nSpills: 90
\nQuantity: 4.6 million<\/p>\n

Greensboro<\/strong>
\nPopulation 236,864
\nSpills: 101
\nQuantity: 75,195 gallons<\/p>\n

Charlotte<\/strong>
\nPopulation 630,478
\nSpills: 681
\nQuantity: 1.19 million gallons<\/center>\n<\/div>\n

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Since June 2009, Raleigh\u2019s sewers have overflowed 97 times and spilled more than six million gallons of sewage. While comparable-sized cities like Greensboro and Charlotte have had more overflows during a two-year period, the spillage volume is much greater in Raleigh.<\/p>\n

During one single incident in Raleigh, nearly 900,000 gallons spilled. That\u2019s 10 times as much as Greensboro lost altogether and almost as much as Charlotte lost during the entire two years.<\/p>\n

The city has launched campaigns to discourage grease dumping, but some officials believe the public remains uninformed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that\u2019s supposed to be put in the toilet is waste,\u201d said Assistant Public Utility Director Donna Jackson. \u201cThat\u2019s it, and toilet paper. People don\u2019t understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so much sewage overflow, officials clearly have cause for concern, but inappropriate materials aren\u2019t the only cause of overflow\u2014they aren\u2019t even the leading one.<\/p>\n

The city website claims<\/a> a sewer overflow \u201cis usually the result of inappropriate materials in the sanitary sewer system,\u201d but heavy rain is actually the single biggest cause of overflows.<\/p>\n

It accounted for more than 30 of the spills in the past two years. Other causes include: erosion from nearby rivers, blockage from construction debris, grease dumping, vandalism and accidents, and paper and rags being dumped into the toilet.<\/p>\n

Location of Raleigh Sewer Overflows<\/strong>