Inside the St. Louis Sewer System: A Messy Problem

Whether it's revamping vast sections of tunnels carrying wastewater and raw sewage or paying for the whole process, the overhaul of the St. Louis sewer system is a messy problem.

Below are two reports in a series on the overhaul process. One report, by Véronique LaCapra, examines what's wrong with our sewers, and what it's going to take to fix them.

The other report, by Maria Altman, explores the financial burden of the overhaul, and how rate payers will be footing the bill.

MSD - St. Louis Sewers

6:35 am

Tue November 15, 2011

Inside the St. Louis sewer system, Part 2: paying to fix a messy problem

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Credit (Maria Altman/St. Louis Public Radio)

Workers have been putting in new cement pipes and storm drains in St. Louis’ Tower Grove South neighborhood in an effort to stop basement backups.

Credit (Maria Altman/St. Louis Public Radio)

MSD has been working in St. Louis’ Tower Grove neighborhood for months in an effort to update its aging sewer system.

By Maria Altman

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has resolved a lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency with promises to fix its aging system.

But the consent decree, which still must be signed off on by a federal judge, comes with a huge price tag, an estimated $4.7 billion over 23 years.

In the second of a two-part series on the overhaul of the sewer district, St. Louis Public Radio’s Maria Altman explains MSD’s rate payers will be picking up the tab.

MSD - St. Louis Sewers

6:35 am

Mon November 14, 2011

Inside the St. Louis sewer system, Part 1: fixing a messy problem

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Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is required to post warning signs near every sewer overflow.

Credit Missouri Coalition for the Environment

There are more than 200 sanitary sewer overflows in St. Louis County, like this one in a condominium complex in Brentwood.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

MSD spokesperson Lance LeComb stands next to one of the 29-foot diameter combined sewer tunnels that run under Forest Park. Raw sewage can be seen flowing by.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

The tunnels emerge again near Manchester and Macklind, into the concrete channel of the River Des Peres. During dry weather, sewage runs under the channel to a sewage treatment plant.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

During heavy rains, a mixture of sewage and rain water overflows into the channel, carrying debris like this along with it.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

This combined sewer overflow (archway in channel) discharges sewage and rain water into the upper River Des Peres, on Ferguson Ave. just south of Melrose Ave. in University City.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

On the other side of Ferguson Ave., the River Des Peres runs by the backyards of these University City homes. During a storm, the water level can rise several feet in just a few minutes.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

At the low water crossing in University City’s Heman Park, the River Des Peres flows over the road during storms, carrying debris and raw sewage along with it.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

Along N. Sarah Street south of Page Ave., the sidewalks and parking lanes are paved with porous concrete as part of a “green infrastructure” demonstration project.

Credit Véronique LaCapra, St. Louis Public Radio

The layer of porous concrete is about four to six inches thick with about 12 to 18 inches of gravel underneath it, to slow the flow of water into the sewer system.

By Véronique LaCapra

Listen

This summer, the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District settled a four-year lawsuit with the Environmental Protection Agency over violations of the Clean Water Act.

Under the terms of the consent decree, MSD will spend the next 23 years upgrading the St. Louis area sewer system.

In the first of a two-part series on the sewer overhaul, St. Louis Public Radio’s Véronique LaCapra looks at the problems with our sewers—and what it’s going to take to fix them.