990,000 Gal of Wastewater Discharged into Lake Erie Following Heavy Storms

Following heavy rains near Dunkirk, N.Y., approximately 990,000 gal of sewage was discharged into Lake Erie. According to authorities in the area, the sewage dump will not affect areas of Northeast Ohio along Lake Erie’s coast.

The discharge is believed to have occurred around 7 a.m. on Sunday July 22, 2018. According to officials, the discharged sewage had been partially treated through the disinfection process before leaking into Lake Erie.

The Dunkirk, N.Y., area received roughly 2 in. of rainfall over the this past weekend, which proved to be a catalyst for the significant sewage discharge. Despite the figure of 990,000 gal, Jennifer Elting of the Northeast Regional Sewage District claims the number is not a great amount when compared to the 4.5 billion gal of water that flows out of its service area each year.

Following the spill, beaches within the spill-affected area will be consistently monitored for bacterial growth.