Sewer Petition rebuttal
City of Tuscaloosa City Council President,Kip Tyner responded to several news stories that ran on many of the local stations with some pretty questionable statements. I’d like to take some time to explain our filing a lawsuit and releasing a petition to educate the people of Tuscaloosa to the issues we thought were egregious enough to take to court.
In one 5-year permit period Tuscaloosa was responsible for self reporting over 42 million gallons of raw sewage into the surrounding waterways. Part of it was stormwater or weather related but a lot of it was deferred maintenance, deteriorating infrastructure and the city's lack of willingness to invest in making the necessary repairs. The majority of these SSOs flowed into beloved streams where citizens recreate such as Hurricane Creek, Cypress Creek, Cottondale Creek, and the Black Warrior River. One such example is Hurricane Creek Park, a popular swimming hole and recreation area for the people of Tuscaloosa.
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| Hurricane Creek Park |
Approximately 2,067,916 gallons of raw sewage had been spilled in Cottondale Creek (just upstream from Hurricane Creek), Hurricane Creek, and Little Hurricane Creek since 2017.
Our initial notice to the city was introduced in 2023 with an invitation to sit down and discuss the issues in an open conversation. The notice letter came after years of problems with the sewer system that the city seemed unable or unwilling to correct. The petition came shortly after.
Recent news reports reference a 100 gallon spill last month. 100 Gallons? How about over 700,000 gallons since 2023.
After a recent file review of overflows in the Hurricane Creek basin alone, I found that since July of 2023, when we filed our notice, the Tuscaloosa Sewer Dep. has discharged an additional 700,000+ gallons of raw sewage into our streams. Of that number approximately 377,710 gallons were in the Hurricane Creek basin alone. Almost half!
The video above is from LS 40 which is one of the most problematic stations and technically not in Tyners district. But is it surrounded by District 5. Gerrymandering made this possible long ago and the residents inside that box can not vote for or against any city projects or representatives.
LS 40 was responsible for over 90,000 gallons and ALL were self-reported as "dry" days. Little Hurricane Creek is about 20 feet to the left in the tree line.
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| Failing LS 40 on "temporary bypass" pumps |
The way these systems work is pretty simple really. Sewage effluent flows by gravity feed to its lowest point where there are pumping stations, or lift stations (LS) then pump the sewage to a higher point where it can again flow by gravity feed. The Mercedes has 4 such lift stations which have been problematic spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of raw sewage into Hurricane Creek, Little Hurricane Creek, Cottondale Creek and many of the unknown various tributaries. From there it goes into the Black Warrior River.
The biggest contributor and source of overflows in the Hurricane Creek basin is the Mercedes force main. It runs under pressure all the way from the Mercedes plant to a gravity feed line located along JVC Road at Manhole 6968. That’s approximately 14+ miles. Most of the cast iron piping was installed in the 1970s originally and has been pumping industrial wastewater under pressure for some 50 years. In those 50 years the equipment has outlived its intended purpose as have the cast iron pipes transporting the corrosive industrial chemicals and sewage.
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| Gravity feed pipe under I-59 rotted by industrial chemicals |
The pipes I have seen taken from the ground after sometimes catastrophic failures are rotted through with holes you can pass your fist through.
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| Force main from Mercedes at the source of the blowout |
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| "We're doing the best we can" (KT) |
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| Rotted pipe taken from LS 11. |
Three of the lift stations in the Mercedes line have serious issues and are on “temporary” diesel pumps, rented and fueled by the ratepayers, as this is being written.
Lift station 39 is located right at the Mercedes plant and has overflowed many times. It is now on temporary pumps for over 2 months on life support and counting.
Lift Station 40 is right behind a small community of people living by a private lake. The closest house is less than 300 feet from the lift station where thousands of gallons of raw sewage has overflowed coming over the years in direct contact with their land. They have never received a notice from the city warning them. It was on temporary pumps for 38 days in 23 at least. 29 days on pumps in 24, and 16 days so far this year. Many thousands gallons of raw sewage and industrial waste flowed along a citizen's land and the city has never notified them. The "temporary" pump was not set up properly and no one checked on it. "We're doing the best we can do" (KT)
There are several sinkholes around the pump well and new ones are opening up all the time due to the seriousness of the overflows.
Lift station 41 has been on temporary pumps for over 8 months and counting! After that long it is no longer temporary. The original equipment has failed… Replace it!
Mr. Tyner has played down our lawsuit making such comments as we only filed to get members and or make money. That is simply not true. Just these 3 lift stations and the lines leading through them are responsible for 190,000+ gallons discharged against the permit requirements just since July 23.
ALL 3 are in Mr. Tyners district, so I can see why he wants to downplay the issues. He is responsible for making sure everything in his district runs smoothly. However, the lift stations and the piping leading through them are failing. Instead of acknowledging and fixing the problem, he is apparently focused on trying to discredit the messenger.
Another questionable claim I heard from the City of Tuscaloosa was that 94% of sanitary sewer overflows were caused due to weather events such as flooding and heavy rain, according Tyner. The record suggests that is not the case.
The collection is a closed system meaning it does not mix with storm water. No storm water should be getting into the pipes. By admitting that 94% of the overflows were caused by weather related water intrusion, they are admitting that there are way too many open pipes and rotted pipes in the system to keep it separate from rain. However, the “self-reported” figures in the ADEM files are different. In the last 3 years since the suit was filed there has been 182,500+ gallons of raw sewage belched into the Hurricane Creek basin on dry days due to equipment failure, broken pipes and at least one contractor who broke a force main coming out of LS 11. During the same reporting period since 2023, there were only 3,200 gallons discharged during wet weather!
This is doing all we can? Tyner says it is.
There is a force main sewer line located directly under those trees. It was only cleared to access a blowout.
One of the main sources of water entering the system is root intrusion from trees on or too close to the lines. Take a look at some of the sewer right of ways (ROW) I encounter on my Hurricane Creek patrols.Tyner claims 94% of overflows are caused by storm events which we know to be wrong based on the ADEM file.
Does that cover manholes knocked open and left for years? This is behind the rest area on I-59. I have an interactive map of the city sewer lines but according to it, this line does not exist. Judging from the amount of rot on that pine tree, I’d say no-one has been here in a few years.
Look inside at the pile of leaves and woody debris laying the manhole. It leads to the LS #40 where over 90,000 gallons of raw sewage have been discharged from that lift station since 2023.
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Some of the joints are exposed and sagging which can allow lots of water intrusion during floods also. Back in 2008 there was a huge overflow which took them several days to address. Mayor Maddox promised back then that would never happen again. The ROWs would be cleared.
After hearing some of City Council President, Kip Tyners comments I felt the need to rebut his misinformation with the truth. We sued because the city refuses to admit that a large part pf the problem is deferred maintenance and a failure to invest in the system.
Mr Tyner claims, “When you have a city this massive, every city has issues”. Possibly but the facts do not reflect that. Tuscaloosa is the 5th largest city in Alabama and hardly “massive”. Statistics show that Tuscaloosa has 2 times more sewer overflows than any average city at 11 overflows per 100 miles of sewer line.
“You are going to have some people who can’t acknowledge that we’re going all we can” (KT) I completely disagree in that Black Warrior Riverkeeper and Friends of Hurricane Creek have been hearing the same excuse for over 20 years and reporting completely different from the ground. If they have been doing “all” they can do, why were 32 year old trees standing on the ROW blocking emergency equipment from reaching the overflow? Why are 3 out of the 4 lift stations in the Mercedes line to JVC Road on “temporary bypass pumps for months? LS 41 has been on temporary pumps for at least 9 solid months! That’s not temporary, that’s jury rigging, slap and dash stuff. “We are doing the best we can” (KT) LS 40 is and has been an extremely problematic station with over 95,000 gallons self-reported since July 23. It has been on temporary pumps for several weeks, on and off over the years but this was taken,
Again, Mr. Tyner claims that 94% of the overflows are caused by weather events. Again, the facts show that some of the largest overflows in the Mercedes force main have been dry weather events. You don't have to believe me. It's all in the record. Go to the ADEM File website When it opens click the "water" box and enter this permit # EXACTLY as it is written here AL0022713 then follow the directions in this video.
Tuscaloosa runs a closed sewer collection system meaning it does not commingle stormwater with sewage as some large cities do. This system is supposed to exclude all stormwater and transport only sewage effluent. In the case of the Mercedes line there are some very dangerous industrial wastewater also in the mix. If, as the city claims the overflows are mainly storm events, that is an admission that 94% of the overflows are caused by holes, open pipes, sinkholes, rust, and a general failure of the system to function as designed. It seems that the city is using one failure to cover up for another.
Finally, Mr. Tyner stated "I am very proud of how we clean it up and we self-report"! They don't self-report out of the benevolence of Tuscaloosa's civic spirit. It is MANDATED by law in the ADEM permit. Here’s the legal requirement for notifications. “From the City’s NPDES permit, section I.C.(2)(d) (p. 21): d. Immediate notificationThe Permittee shall provide notification to the Director, the public, the county health department, and any otheraffected entity such as public water systems, as soon as possible upon becoming aware of any notifiable sanitarysewer overflow. Notification to the Director shall be completed utilizing the Department's web-based electronicenvironmental SSO reporting system in accordance with Provision I.C.2.e. Section III.H defines notifiable SSO (p. 33): 30. Notifiable sanitary sewer overflow - means an overflow, spill, release or diversion of wastewater from a sanitarysewer system that:a) Reaches a surface water of the State; orb) May imminently and substantially endanger human health based on potential for public exposure including butnot limited to close proximity to public or private water supply wells or in areas where human contact would belikely to occur.
So you see, most of what Tyner shows his lack of knowledge of what is required or a sad attempt to mislead the public. It should be stated that there are 3 Sanitary Sewer pumping stations between Mercedes and the Manhole on JVC Road which as I write this are ALL 3 on temporary bypass pumps and even thoughALL 3 of these struggling stations are in City Councilman Kip Tyner’s district, he wants the public to believe everything is just fine.
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