By Charlotte HarveyUConn Journalism People in the 21st century expect sewage systems to work. They expect them to carry waste away and break down that waste safely. They expect not to have to think about that. But what if that isn’t your norm? What if, on a rainy day, untreated waste moves the wrong way…
Category: Explained
Deadlines Pushed Back for $170M Sewage Separation Project
By Justin Doughty and Sofia AcostaUConn Journalism Since 1994, the MDC has been legally bound to eliminate discharging untreated sewage into rivers through a series of consent orders with the state. The latest of the consent orders, signed January 15, 2025, adjusts deadlines for previously contracted projects and adds some new projects. This order replaced…
Whose fault is the flooding? It’s complicated
Hartford’s sewer system was designed to collect both sewage and stormwater together, meaning the system can be overwhelmed and must repel the excess water directly into rivers, which can flood and back up into neighborhoods and homes.
How Sewage Treatment Usually Works
By Desirae SinUConn Journalism Hartford’s sewer system dates to the 1850s, when it was modeled on much older European waste treatment systems. In those early days, when fewer people lived in Hartford, waste channeled away from buildings, directly into streams and rivers, with the goal of keeping it away from contact with humans. “It started…