FARGO (KFGO) – Just under two to nearly three inches of rain has fallen in Fargo-Moorhead through Monday morning, and the extra water is putting pressure on Fargo’s sanitary sewer system.
City of Fargo Public Works Director Ben Dow is asking for help from homeowners to make sure their sump pumps are discharging to their backyards rather than into the sanitary sewer.
Dow said on a typical day, the wastewater treatment plant sees between 13 and 15 million gallons of water per day, but with the recent rainfall and sump pumps discharging into the sanitary sewer, they are seeing over 10 million gallons of extra water per day. On Sunday, 28 million gallons came through the plant.
“We’re taking on a lot of extra water into our sanitary sewer system through sump pumps,” Dow told KFGO reporter Don Haney. “Right now, those sump pumps are running anywhere from every 30 seconds to every minute, and when you count up the number of homes we have in the city of Fargo, and then you add all the extra gallons and gallons of water, it tends to cripple us and put significant strain on the systems.”
The torrential rain can increase flow and quickly overwhelm the city sanitary sewer system and cause sewer backups and cause property damage which can cause significant damage to homes.
“It is imperative that our homeowners recognize that they need to get their sump pumps out of that sanitary sewer and discharging into their yards,” Dow said.
30 1/2 Ave & 23rd Street South in Fargo (photo Ryan Janke)
