Weekend rain overwhelms sewer

Fairfield received about 3.17 inches of rain Saturday and Sunday resulting in about 95,042 gallons of sanitary sewer overflow from the collection system flowing into Crow Creek.

Fairfield has a serious inflow and infiltration problem as shown by these sanitary sewer overflows.

In Fairfield, sanitary sewer overflows are exacerbated by an aging sewer infrastructure with defects such as broken and cracked pipes and illegal connections such as roof drains, sump pumps and footing drains. All are sources of inflow and infiltration.

Sanitary sewer overflows are not allowed by the city?s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit and the city is working to improve the wastewater collection system to prevent overflow events, while treatment plant staff is working to maximize operational control to manage bypass to the lowest volume possible.