The Town of Tonawanda sewer system overflowed into Ellicott Creek over the weekend.Unlike many communities, the town has a sanitary sewer system and a storm drain system. The problem is that they are not completely separate since many buildings have roof downspouts which dump storm water into the regular sewer system. When that happens, the sanitary system can overload and overflow.
The town has been ordered to cut down on the overflows from the 93 overflow points in its system. Water Resources Director Mike Kessler says the town has spent $60 million so far trying to ease the problem, with more bills possibly on the way.
"The fourth phase is beginning. We have to go back and submit our long-term control plan to the DEC, which may cause us to do additional work within the collection system. We don't have a number what it could be. It could be from anywhere from $500,000 to $200 million," Kessler said.
That figure is not unlikely since the Buffalo Sewer Authority is spending at least twice that to ease the same problem.
Kessler says whenever a building is sold in the town, inspectors go in and make sure that storm water goes into the storm drain system and not the regular sewers, each time taking a little bit of load off the sewer plant.
