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Fort Worth Tries To Keep Storm Water Out Of Sewage

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Oct 26, 2009 6:16 pm US/Central

Fort Worth Tries To Keep Storm Water Out Of Sewage

Reporting
Joel Thomas
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― Fort Worth residents know all too well about the city's problems with diluted raw sewage coming out of manhole covers when we get heavy rain.

The city spends millions fighting it, but it keeps happening.  And it's a problem that might be impossible to fix.

Storm drainage is an entirely different set of pipes than sewage. But cracked sewage pipes allow storm water to seep into the sewage lines.

"These pipes weren't designed to carry storm water," said Mary Gugliuzza, who's with the Fort Worth Water Department.  "We want to keep that out of the wastewater system."

The storm water mixes with the sewage in the pipes.  But the pipes can't handle the volume and the contents bubble to the surface.  

Dewayne Haynes lives near one of the places where it comes out.

"It's just water, mainly," Haynes said.  "But it still runs into that gutter down there then goes down in the creek and ends up in (Lake) Arlington."

The city actually has a two-fold problem. The growing population already taxes the lines running to the water treatment plant.  And with each new private development comes even more privately built sewage lines that crack, and send even more storm water pouring into the already-overloaded system.

"Wwe're spending millions and millions a year on our side of the system," said Gugliuzza, "but that still doesn't affect the private side of the equation."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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