City of Albert Lea urges residents not to dump storm water in wastewater system

(ABC 6 News) — The City of Albert Lea is urging residents to avoid dumping storm water into the wastewater system.

On Friday, the city posted the following on Facebook:

“The Albert Lea Wastewater Treatment Plant processes much more water after heavy rains due to stormwater entering the system from residential sump pumps and groundwater seeping into sewer lines. The plant processes an average of 4 million gallons of wastewater a day before discharging the treated wastewater to the Shell Rock River. However, the plant processed 18-20 million gallons a day on June 22-23 after Albert Lea received more than 3 inches of rain in 48 hours and more than 7 inches in the last week. The city urges property owners with sump pumps to make sure they are discharging to the street or stormwater system, not the wastewater system.”