Last Weekend’s Heavy Rain Overloads Kenosha’s Water System

KENOSHA, WI (WLIP)—Last weekend’s heavy rains meant that the Kenosha Water Utility had to discharge diluted wastewater into area waterways including Lake Michigan, Pike Creek and the Pike River.

Sanitary sewers in various areas of the city had to be bypassed, including the intersection of 67th Street and 57th Avenue, 89th Street and 17th Avenue, 43rd Street and 5th Avenue, and the area west of the Carthage College Campus among others.

The sewers were bypassed to stop them from backing up into people’s homes.

The Kenosha area received more than three point three inches of rain, sending the sewer system to nine times its normal volume at the height of the rain event. The Wastewater treatment plant handles around 25 million gallons of water per day, but at this event’s peak, 225 million gallons of water was flowing through the system.

Water Utility officials say future bypasses can be prevented by proper positioning of sump pumps away from a home’s foundation, and by limiting water usage during and after a major rain event.