Combined Sewer Overflow Information
The City of Kingston has installed four Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) monitoring devices, which cover all of Kingston’s Combined Sewer Overflow locations. This technology allows city staff and the public the opportunity to be notified via our City Website whether one or more of the CSO outfalls are in the process of overflowing at the current time.
The four locations are listed above. When the listing indicates Normal, no overflows are detected at that location. If the listing indicates Active, a discharge is currently happening.
To sign up for NY Alerts to be notified about sewer overflow events, please visit: https://alert.ny.gov/
For a map of each CSO Location, please click here.
CSO Events
To find a Combined Sewer Overflow report on a particular site, please use the following dropdown menu:
Listing files in 'Combined Server Overflow'
What is Combined Sewer Overflow? When does CSO occur?
Combined sewer systems (CSS) are sewer systems that are designed to collect storm water runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and bring it to the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) facilities.
During rain events, when storm water or snow melt enters the sewers rapidly, the capacity of the sewer system may be exceeded and the excess water will be discharged into a waterbody (rivers, streams, estuaries, and coastal waters).
The untreated water may contain untreated sewage that may impact human health.
Combined sewers can be found across the state. Most large municipal sewer systems in NYS consist of combined sewers in older downtown urban areas. There are currently about 800 CSO outfalls in New York State.
The DEC states “CSO outfalls may discharge rainwater mixed with untreated sewage during or following rainfall or snowmelt events and may contain bacteria that can cause illness.”
The DEC recommends to “avoid contact or recreation (swimming, boating, and fishing) within the waterbody during or following a rainfall or snowmelt event.”
To learn more about CSO’s, please see our Combined Sewer Overflow Information.
What is being done to resolve CSO in Kingston
The
City of Kingston has committed to spending $3.5 million in the next year for
sewer separation projects.
For more information on the projects, the supporting
grants, and grant applications, please visit: https://www.kingston-ny.gov/watersewergrants
This project was prepared for Hudson River Estuary Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with support from the NYS Environmental Protection Fund, in cooperation with the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission. The viewpoints expressed here do not necessarily represent those of NEIWPCC or NYSDEC, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or causes constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.