EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Evansville’s combined sewers make a mess of Bee Slough.
The (Evansville) Courier and Press reports (http://bit.ly/1RT518c ) cleanup of the concrete waterway is a priority in the city’s $729 million upgrade of combined storm and sanitary sewers.
Part of the plan which required approval by federal regulators is constructing a wetland to naturally treat sewage overflow.
Combined sewers carry both water runoff and waste. A heavy rain creates overflow and raw sewage is dumped into Bee Slough among other places. The slough drains into a paved ditch that runs along a major thoroughfare heading downtown.
Officials say it happens about 50 times year.
When the water isn’t high enough to wash it away, smelly and unsightly sewage can sit in the slough for days.