Heavy rainfall has overwhelmed many sewer systems across Kansas pushing the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to monitor the release of untreated wastewater into nearby creeks, including by the city of Russell.
Rich Krause, Russell public works director, said the release was necessary last week as water continued to overwhelm the sewer system and homes were being flooded with water from the sewer system.
While water bypassed treatment systems, Krause said it was pumped from a manhole on a city street and would have been mostly rainwater.
Russell is not alone when it comes to this problem.
“Great Bend and McPherson dealt with some issues with their collection systems with the additional rainfall,” according to Jeff Crispin, Hays director of water resources.
(Read more: Hays Post)