Raw sewage overflows into Lake Erie at Edgewater Beach due to heavy rains (video)

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District issued a public advisory for Edgewater Beach because of a sewage overflow into Lake Erie that occurred as a result of Monday morning’s rainfall.

The overflow of raw sewage and stormwater occurred just after 10 a.m. on labor Day.

Maintenance and operation crews from the NEORSD were on site investigating an alarm when they captured video of the overflow event.

NOTICE: This morning’s downtown deluge resulted in a combined sewer overflow event at our Edgewater CSO.

Overflow events here are rare and video of them occurring are even more so, but our sewer maintenance crew was on site at the time. Details to follow. pic.twitter.com/7dqTJX51Sn
— NE Ohio Regional Sewer District (@neorsd) September 7, 2020

Visitors to Lake Erie, especially children, the elderly, and those in poor health, are temporarily urged to avoid coming in contact with the water.

“Our region has experienced many strong storms in recent years, an ongoing trend that we will see more of in the future,” said Director of Watershed Programs Frank Greenland.

what is a combined sewer overflow? thread: https://t.co/3EhpKFjW79
— NE Ohio Regional Sewer District (@neorsd) September 7, 2020

Throughout the mid-1970s, sewage discharge into Lake Erie occurred 40 to 50 times per year. The NEORSD’s efforts to improve infrastructure have significantly decreased those discharges.