Do Something About It
Awareness without action changes nothing. Here is how to report a spill, find your allies, push your elected officials, and help spread the word.
Witnessed a sewage spill?
Don't wait — get it on the official record immediately. Follow the 3-step process below.
Report a Spill
If you witness raw sewage flowing in a street, from a manhole, or discharging into a waterway, you have the power — and the responsibility — to get it on the record. Use this 3-step chain:
Your local sewer utility (first call)
Your sewer utility has a 24/7 emergency line for sewage spills. They are required to respond, dispatch a crew, and file an official incident report. Search for your utility online and save the emergency number in your phone.
Find your utility →Your state environmental agency
State environmental agencies (DEQ, DEC, DEP, or similar) accept spill reports and can dispatch inspectors, particularly for large events or those reaching waterways. Most have 24/7 emergency lines for environmental emergencies.
EPA Regional Offices →EPA enforcement tip line
If local and state authorities are unresponsive, or if the spill is large enough to warrant federal attention, submit an enforcement tip directly to EPA. The agency accepts reports of potential Clean Water Act violations.
EPA Enforcement Tip Form →When you report, document:
- Exact location (street address, intersection, or GPS coordinates)
- Date and time you observed it
- What you saw: sewage coming from a manhole, pipe, ditch, etc.
- Approximate volume or flow rate if you can estimate
- Whether it appears to be reaching a waterway
- Photos and video — timestamped if possible
Connect With Advocates
You are not alone in caring about clean water. These organizations do the difficult work of litigation, advocacy, monitoring, and community organizing to protect water quality across the United States.
Water quality monitoring · Beach testing
Surfrider's Blue Water Task Force operates the largest volunteer water quality monitoring network in the country. Volunteer testers sample water at beaches and coastal areas and post results online — providing real ground-truth data that complements EPA ECHO records.
Legal advocacy · Pollution enforcement · Local organizing
A network of over 300 Waterkeeper organizations worldwide — each representing a specific river, lake, bay, or coastal area. Individual Waterkeepers patrol their waterways, document pollution, and take legal action against violators.
River conservation · Federal policy advocacy
One of the oldest river conservation organizations in the US. Their policy team advocates at the federal level for Clean Water Act enforcement and infrastructure investment, and their annual 'Most Endangered Rivers' list draws national attention.
Environmental litigation · Clean Water Act enforcement
The nation's largest nonprofit environmental law organization. Their water program has litigated landmark cases protecting Clean Water Act standards and holding polluters accountable. If a utility near you is chronically violating the CWA, Earthjustice may be the right call.
Policy advocacy · Research · Clean Water Act standards
NRDC's water team combines policy advocacy, litigation, and public education. They publish annual 'Swimming in Sewage' reports and have been among the most consistent voices for stronger SSO regulations and infrastructure investment at the federal level.
Grassroots organizing · Utility accountability
A grassroots advocacy organization focused on drinking water and water quality, with chapters in more than 15 states. Organizes community members around utility accountability and local water quality campaigns, with a focus on environmental justice communities.
Push for Change
The root cause of most sewer overflows is underfunded infrastructure. The money to fix it exists — federal programs like the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) provide low-interest loans to utilities for exactly this purpose. But utilities have to apply, states have to prioritize funding, and Congress has to appropriate it. That process responds to public pressure.
Contact your US Senators and Representative
Federal appropriations for the CWSRF and EPA's water programs are set by Congress. Tell your representatives that clean water infrastructure is a priority for you. Ask them specifically to support full funding for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and EPA enforcement capacity.
Find your representatives: congress.gov/members/find-your-memberContact your state legislators and governor
State governments distribute federal CWSRF funds and set their own water quality standards. State-level advocacy on sewer infrastructure can be highly effective, particularly in election years. Ask your state representatives to increase SRF loan applications from local utilities and to fund state environmental agency inspection capacity.
Find your state legislators: NCSL State Legislator FinderAttend your utility's public meetings
Most water and sewer utilities hold public meetings at least annually where capital improvement priorities are set and rate adjustments are proposed. These meetings are where decisions about whether to replace a 60-year-old pipe section get made — and they are often nearly empty. Your presence matters. Ask directly about SSO frequencies and capital improvement timelines.
Read the ASCE Infrastructure Report Card
The American Society of Civil Engineers publishes a comprehensive assessment of US infrastructure every four years, including wastewater systems. The 2025 report card gives wastewater a D+. Share this with your elected officials and neighbors as documentation of the urgency.
Read the report: ASCE Infrastructure Report Card — WastewaterShare This Tool
The most important thing you can do right now is help more people find this map. The more people who check it, share it, and talk about what they find, the more public pressure there is on utilities and regulators to perform.
For Researchers & Journalists
We welcome research use of this site and the underlying EPA ECHO data.
- →Raw data: Download the source EPA ECHO SSO bulk CSV directly from echo.epa.gov
- →Methodology: See our Data Sources page for a complete explanation of our data processing, limitations, and citation guidance
- →Contact: For interview requests, data questions, or collaboration inquiries, reach us at press@sewagemonitor.com
- →Key sources: GAO 2023 report on SSO data quality, ASCE 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, EPA Clean Watersheds Needs Survey 2022 — all linked on our Data page
For Utilities
Sewage Monitor is not designed to shame utilities — we recognize that managing aging sewer infrastructure under limited budgets in a changing climate is genuinely difficult. We display publicly available federal data because transparency is fundamental to accountability.
If you are a utility professional looking to reduce SSOs, these resources may be helpful:
- →EPA's CMOM Program Guidance — Capacity, Management, Operations, and Maintenance guidance for collection systems
- →Water Research Foundation — Industry research on SSO reduction, pipe rehabilitation, and I/I control
- →National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) — Policy advocacy organization for publicly owned treatment works
- →Clean Water State Revolving Fund — Federal low-interest loan program for wastewater infrastructure improvements
If you believe data on this map is inaccurate or want to provide context about a specific event, please contact data@sewagemonitor.com. We are committed to accuracy and will work with you.