Storm surge causes combined sewer overflow at Edgewater Beach
Monday afternoon downpour results in advisory at Edgewater Beach, first overflow since last August
The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has posted a public advisory this afternoon at Edgewater Beach due to a combined sewer overflow (CSO) event, the result of a large storm today that exceeded the capacity of the sewer system discharging a combination of sewage and stormwater into Lake Erie.
Visitors — particularly children, the elderly, and those in ill health — are advised to avoid contact with the water and wood debris while the advisory is posted.
The last overflow at this location occurred on August 23. While the number of combined sewer overflow events continues to decrease annually, they do still occur, raising questions about the response, causes, and improvements — both ongoing and future plans.
How we respond to overflow events
Sewer District crews will sample water twice daily (once in the morning and once in the afternoon) at 10 locations at Edgewater Beach. Five locations are close to the beach, and the other five are further from the shore but still in proximity. The samples will be tested to determine if E. coli bacteria levels are elevated. Results will be available 24 hours after the sample is collected. Once the samples are below the federal and state advisory standards of 235 (which equates to colony counts of E. coli per 100 milliliters of water), the advisory will be lifted, and the Sewer District will discontinue the twice-daily sampling.
You can learn more about Edgewater water quality daily predictions and E. coli test results at neorsd.org/beaches.
What causes combined sewer overflows
Much of Cleveland exists atop a combined sewer system, a network of sewers that carry sanitary sewage (waste from your house) and stormwater in the same pipes to maximize the volume of water being collected, moved, and eventually treated.
When heavy storms produce large volumes of surface runoff, combined sewers may not be able to handle the increase. For this reason, rather than having sewage back up into homes or treatment plants, relief points were designed in the system years ago to release the combined flow to the environment. Those points are called combined sewer overflows, or CSOs.
While state of the art in the late 1800s, combined sewers and their outfalls became a challenge as development advanced in the first half of the 20th century. More frequent overflows were the result, and changes were needed.
Improvements to the Edgewater sewer system
Built in the late 1880s, the combined sewer outfall at Edgewater discharged a mixture of sewage and stormwater into Lake Erie approximately 40 to 50 times per year through the mid-1970s. Since its inception in 1972, the Sewer District has invested over $5 billion in sewer and stormwater projects across the entire service area. Early work included improving and building new infrastructure, such as the Northwest Interceptor, which resulted in combined sewer overflow discharges significantly decreasing, particularly here at the Edgewater outfall.
The Edgewater portion of the Northwest Interceptor begins at W. 117 and ends at the Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant located by the Edgewater Marina, collecting sewage from homes and businesses on the west side of Cleveland to Kamm’s Corner. As part of its recent improvement projects, the Sewer District removed three inflatable dams in the interceptor and provided improved ventilation, reducing pressure within the sewer pipe. Additionally, the Sewer District sealed an access cover near the beach and raised the overflow gate control elevation, allowing more combined sewage to be directed to the Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant. These improvements raise the level of control at the Edgewater combined sewer outfall.
“The inflatable dams acted as unnecessary stop signs in the sewer system. They held back the combined sewage and, when finally deflated, allowed combined sewage to gush rapidly through the system, triggering the overflow gate to open,” said Doug Lopata, Sewer District Program Manager. “Eliminating the dams allows the flow of untreated water to move less rapidly and more consistently through the pipe.”
In addition to upgrades, the Sewer District researched opportunities to completely eliminate the Edgewater outfall from the beach.
“The Edgewater overflow serves as a last-resort release point during heavy rains, protecting homes and the Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant from flooding; as a result, we knew it wasn’t practical to remove it,” said Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Sewer District CEO. “However, we explored options, including relocating the outfall approximately 2,000 feet into Lake Erie. This option does nothing for water quality, while costing customers more than $30 million to build. Since this would render no water quality benefit, we determined it would not be a wise investment of our customers’ dollars.”
Eliminating other combined sewer overflows in the region
One of the Sewer District’s largest capital expenditures is Project Clean Lake, a $3 billion, 25-year infrastructure investment program to address combined sewer overflows. Existing in nearly 800 cities — including Cleveland, Columbus, Akron, and Cincinnati — combined sewers were once a state-of-the-art waste management system. Now, they must be addressed to reduce the volume of pollution entering waterways. In the Sewer District’s service area, CSO discharge points are in Cleveland and inner-ring suburbs, including Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Brooklyn, and East Cleveland.
Since the start of Project Clean Lake in 2011, the Sewer District’s goal is to reduce combined sewer overflows from 4.5 billion gallons to under 500 million gallons annually by 2036. To date, the Sewer District has eliminated about 1.7 billion gallons of combined sewer overflow and anticipates the elimination of an additional 300 million gallons by the end of 2024 when the Westerly Storage Tunnel is fully activated. Further, because of Project Clean Lake and other capital investments, the Sewer District has successfully reduced combined sewer overflow discharge points from 126 to 112.
Project Clean Lake includes, in part, the construction of seven large-scale storage tunnels large enough for a semi-truck to drive over 20 miles:
- Euclid Creek ($213M, now online)
- Dugway ($155M, now online)
- Doan Valley ($155M, now online)
- Westerly ($146M, complete, online in 2024)
- Shoreline ($223M, complete in 2025)
- Southerly ($358M, now under construction)
- Big Creek ($239M, design and construction 2027–2033)
The Sewer District is now actively capturing and treating one billion additional gallons of combined sewage annually.
