Heavy, persistent rain caused at least two sanitary sewer overflows in Duluth.
The first happened Tuesday evening at Fifth Avenue East and the Lakewalk, the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District reported.
In a news report, WLSSD said the overflow of 30,000 gallons occurred between approximately 6:20 and 7:40 p.m.
"The WLSSD overflow structure at Fifth Avenue East performed as intended -- to divert the sanitary sewer overflow from high-traffic areas where there is increased risk of human exposure, said Marianne Bohren, the district's executive director.
Overflows in the area of Fifth Avenue East are expected to be eliminated when the 8 million-gallon sanitary sewer overflow storage basin is completed near the Endion Station along the Lake Superior waterfront downtown, Bohren said. That project is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
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The second overflow, at 52nd Avenue East and Dodge Street -- lift station No. 45 -- began at 5:30 a.m. today and still was going in the mid-afternoon. The overflow volume is approximately 1,500 gallons per minute.
Rainfall amounts Tuesday and early Wednesday ranged from 4.75 inches at the Scanlon Pump Station to nearly two inches at the Endion monitoring station on the Lakewalk at 18th Avenue East, the release said.
WLSSD and the city of Duluth are subject to a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows to Lake Superior by 2016.
