Heavy rains last week caused sewage system overflows in Tuscaloosa, resulting in an estimated 600,000 gallons of wastewater escaping onto the ground and into local creeks.
These spills are not uncommon during significant rain events, when stormwater enters the sewer system through broken pipes, open manholes, and other points of entry, overwhelming it.
Pipes and pump stations designed and built only to handle the wastewater from normal residential and commercial use can’t keep up with the heavy flow of intruding stormwater and overflow.
When this happens, the city notifies the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, posts a self-report on its website, cleans the area, and posts signs around the site warning people of the spill.
According to the city, two large-scale sewer overflows occurred on January 9th due to rain last week.
They reported an overflow of approximately 263,500 gallons of sewage at a manhole near the intersection of Investigator Dornell Cousette Street and Kaulton Road. Some of that wastewater flowed into an unnamed tributary and into Cypress Creek.
The second SSO was reported in the 4400 block of Reese Phifer Avenue, and the city estimates 334,000 gallons escaped their system, some reaching a tributary of Cribbs Mill Creek.
The spills combined to overflow approximately 600,000 gallons of wastewater.
A city spokesperson declined to comment on the overflows.
Tuscaloosa has been under scrutiny and was sued by the state in 2023 over its frequent sewer overflows, but it settled that lawsuit in November of last year.
Part of their agreement was to meaningfully improve the city’s systems and reduce these events in the future, committing $18 million to the problem over the next decade.
“These two large sewage overflows occurred from manholes into Cypress Creek to the West of and Cribbs Mill Creek to the South of Tuscaloosa’s wastewater treatment plant. The spill into Cribbs Mill Creek comes from a problematic manhole next to Phifer Wire, which is being prioritized for upgrades as a part of our settlement with the city and ADEM,” Black Warrior Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke told the Thread Wednesday. “Sewage overflows are a threat to public health and wildlife due to bacteria and industrial chemicals that are present in untreated wastewater.”
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