Water Sector News
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Peoria to lower CSO’s one year at a time
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Do people ever wonder where stormwater goes when it rains heavily? It’s called combined sewer overflow, or CSO, and it drains into the Illinois river.
A combined sewer system collects rainwater runoff, sewage, and wastewater into one pipe. It transports all the wastewater it collects into a body of water.
Specifically, CSOs carry untreated or partially treated human and industrial waste, toxic materials, and debris, as well as stormwater. They are a priority water pollution concern for approximately 700 municipalities across the U.S. that have combined sewer systems.
“Eventually that stormwater and sanitary sewage, that pipe that it flows through that combines sewer, it’ll get overwhelmed on days like this when there is a substantial amount of rainfall that falls in such a short period of time. When that does happen, sewage does end up in the river,” said Nick McMillion, communications specialist at the Department of Public Works.