The EPA estimates as many as 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows happen every year, releasing about 890 billion gallons of sewage into lakes, rivers and streams. Needless to say, if you’re responsible for a breached system, you’re going to be in a very uncomfortable position. Your best plan of action is a two-pronged approach: 1) understanding why SSOs happen, so you can work to avoid them; and 2) creating a contingency plan for emergency response sewer bypass pumping so if the unthinkable does happen you can recover as quickly as possible.

When an SSO happens, the cause is usually traced to an obvious issue such as a pipe breakage or pump failure. However, repairing the fault without looking into the underlying cause may not protect your system from another failure.

Click here for more on preventing SSOs.