To the Editor:

Tropical storm Debby dumped 5 inches of rain on St. Lawrence County. It was a raging battle between the villages’ sewer systems and basement sump pumps. Sump pumps lost the battle and many basements were flooded with sewage and/or storm water. Village sewer systems work best when storm and groundwater are not entering the system. 

Concentrated sewage from homes is relatively inexpensive to treat and the discharge into rivers reasonably clean. When a majority of village homes dump gallons of illegal sump pump water 24 hours per day into the sewer system during a big storm or spring thaw, this overwhelms the system and untreated sewage just flows into the rivers. 

We must stop the illegal sump pump dilution of sewage. Villages can issue a simple one-page survey to assess sump pump use, failure and damages from sewage backup. Homes may need inspection for illegal sump pump discharge, and penalties for non compliance.  Sump  pump water must be discharged to the curb  or yard. Addressing this problem will save taxpayers money, prevent basement flooding, reduce reliance on volunteer firefighters’ resources, lower sewer/water fees in the long run and keep rivers clean.

Here’s a quick look at the consequences of continued inaction and lack of enforcement.

Sewage treatment plants are way oversized and cost millions, use lots of power and expensive chemicals. Down-river communities have to over treat drinking water  because of overburdened sewage treatment upstream (repeat over and over for each community along a river). Volunteer (stress on volunteer) firefighters pumping out flooded basements on their own time. Home insurance may deny claims based on illegal sump pump installation. Tourism, beaches, and river recreation is threatened by sewage. 

Flood damage reporting can help understand the extent of the problem. Comprehensive measures are needed to correct all villages with diluted sewage systems caused by illegal sump pump storm water discharges. If you ignore little things, they become big problems.

Rich Paolillo
West Stockholm