The statistics are staggering. Each year in the United States alone, we experience up to 75,000 sanitary sewer overflows that release close to 1 trillion gallons of raw sewage into our rivers, streams and lakes.

The root causes behind these raw sewage overflows don't always lend themselves to quick fixes. Aging infrastructure leads to line breaks, equipment failures and lower overall capacity. Older designs are being overmatched by new development. And increased rainfall and snowmelt are overwhelming the many combined storm and sewer systems in America. 

Are you at risk? Almost everybody is. Even top-performing systems can expect five spills a year for every 100 miles of pipe. Check out this infographic from Xylem showing the 6 Signs You're Headed for a Sanitary Sewer Overflow.

Chances are good that more than one of these warning signs hit home with you. The chances are equally as good that you don't have all the resources you need right now to totally revamp your wastewater treatment plant or system to address all these issues. More than likely it's going to happen in pieces and over time. And while you're working on fixing the problem permanently — if that's even possible — you're still at risk for sanitary sewer overflows in the near term.

The best course of action is a contingency plan that lets you deal with the inevitable. It's all about preventing a manageable problem from turning into a catastrophic issue, and putting fast fixes into place to slow or stop an SSO. You don't want to have to call your state regulator to report an SSO that happened in your town.

Xylem Rental Solutions is here to help. Xylem experts will work with you to create a contingency plan that mitigates an SSO as quickly as possible with an emergency bypass pumping system. It's a free service that can save you huge costs and headaches if — and more probably when — you are facing an imminent or in-progress SSO. 

With its large fleet of rental pumps and rental locations in all parts of the U.S., Xylem can handle all levels of flow, from low to high, and get our pumps and people to you in a flash. If it's raining buckets on you, there are Xylem salespeople and distributor partners looking up at the same skies and thinking about your situation and the right solution.

For the sake of your business, your neighbors and our planet, it’s necessary to get a handle on SSOs. Large-scale fixes will be needed, but in the meantime there are things we can do today with rental pumps and smart planning to keep raw sewage where it belongs – safely inside our wastewater transport and treatment systems.

Click here for more information about Xylem’s expertise in sewer bypass.