Yesterday, the inevitable happened.
It rained. And when it rains, sanitary and storm sewers pour into Lake Michigan and rivers.
It was the first dumping of the season.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Combined sanitary and storm sewers in central Milwaukee and eastern Shorewood started overflowing into local rivers and Lake Michigan around 4:55 p.m., less than an hour after heavy rain started Tuesday, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Executive Director Kevin Shafer said.
...At 4:55 p.m., Shafer ordered closing of gates connecting combined sewers and the district's deep tunnels. Combined sewers continue to carry wastewater to treatment plants when overflows occur.
The emergency step was taken to reserve space in the tunnels for excessive flows from municipal sanitary sewers in communities that the district serves.
At 5:35 p.m., the tunnels were storing 218 million gallons. Total storage capacity is 521 million gallons.
This "emergency step" of dumping, fouling the environment, isn't rare. Apparently, the Milwaukee area is subject to "emergencies" requiring sewage to be directed into the lake and waterways.
Rain started falling around 4 p.m. and by 5 p.m. district gauges had measured 2.57 inches at the border of Milwaukee and Glendale and 2.19 inches at Elm Grove Village Hall.
Tuesday's intense storm also caused the year's first sanitary sewer overflows. Shafer confirmed sanitary sewer spills into waterways at N. 32nd St. and W. Hampton Ave. and at N. 35th St. and W. Roosevelt Ave.
Sewer overflows reduce risk of basement backups.
Question: Will Tom Barrett fire off an e-mail to supporters with the subject line, "Stop MMSD from dumping in the Great Lakes"?
It would be a nice follow-up to his e-mail from last week, "Stop BP from drilling in the Great Lakes."
Like a good student of Rahm Emanuel, Barrett didn't let the crisis in the Gulf go to waste. He attempted to make political hay out of the oil spill, bragging about his record of protecting the Great Lakes and, specifically, Lake Michigan.
Barrett wrote:
In 2001, I supported a federal ban on Great Lakes drilling, and in 2007 I stood up to BP when they were caught dumping tons of toxic sludge into Lake Michigan.
Will you join me in standing up again by clicking here to sign our petition to renew the bans on drilling in the Great Lakes?
If Barrett really cared about the environment, he wouldn't stand for dumping sewage into Lake Michigan.
I ask for consistency. It's not right for Barrett to demonize BP while ignoring the sewage dumping going on in his own city.
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