Culture
Ask CityLab: Why Do Sewer Systems Leak Noxious Waste in the Summer?
Caution: Dry heaving and a feces-filled river ahead.
Ask CityLab is where we answer thorny questions about urban life. Email your Q's to AskCityLab@CityLab.com.
You’re right. It has a lot to do with rainfall. In many parts of the U.S., summertime signals a nearly constant threat of thunderstorms. May was the nation’s wettest month in recorded history, and June rainfall broke records in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. NOAA predicts that precipitation from July through September will also be above normal for much of the Midwest and Southwest.