Culture
It's Not Just Overflow—Everyday Leaks From Sewer Systems Lead to Alarming Amounts of Sewage in Our Waterways
And you probably can't even smell it.
Sewage runoff into our waterways is both an environmental and a political problem when we can see and smell it. If you live in an older U.S. city with a combined sewer system – one where storm water and sewage share the same pipe network, overflowing through the same outlets – you’ve probably had the visceral experience after a big storm of approaching a river with a musty sheen.
We know, though, that city sewage in some form finds its way into our rivers and bays even in good weather (and without as much noxious evidence).