Due to the combination of recent snow melt, high ground water, and the latest rain event, the Escanaba Wastewater Department was forced to by-pass approximately 185,000 gallons of Primary Effluent to the outfall.
This process began late Wednesday night, April 17th, and into Thursday, April 18th.
We are currently still by-passing in small controlled flows, as needed, to prevent a system wide sewer back-up.
The outfall and discharge point is located one mile off shore in Little Bay De Noc. The partially treated effluent is expected to be less than 1% of our combined flows over the two day event. All discharge has been dosed with high concentrations of Chlorine in an attempt to achieve complete disinfection before release.
This by-pass event was critically essential to avoid the sanitary sewer collection system from backing up. Had any large scale back-up within the collection system occurred, private property damage would have been un-avoidable. By-passing a small portion of a peak flow above the Wastewater Plant’s design capacity is also required to maintain an effective treatment process of the majority of the incoming flow.
For any questions or concerns please contact the City of Escanaba Wastewater Department at 786-1301.
