Sewage Monitor Blog
In-depth reporting on America's sewage crisis, clean water policy, infrastructure funding, and the communities bearing the burden. Subscribe to get new pieces in your inbox.
Coming Soon — Subscribe to Be First
We are working on our first round of investigations and explainers. The pieces below are in development. Drop your email below and we will notify you when each one publishes — no spam, unsubscribe any time.
Articles in Development
The States Hiding Their Sewage Data
A dozen states report fewer than 10 sewer overflow events to federal databases each year — despite operating thousands of miles of aging pipe. We dug into who's reporting and who isn't, and why it matters.
Grease Is the Word: How FOG Causes Half of All Sewer Overflows
Fats, oils, and grease (FOG) are responsible for approximately 50% of all sewer blockages in the United States. We trace the journey of cooking grease from your pan to the sewer, explain how fatbergs form, and look at which utility programs are actually working.
Environmental Justice and the Sewage Burden: Who Gets Flooded Most
Sewer overflows are not evenly distributed. Research consistently shows that lower-income communities and communities of color bear a disproportionate share of sewage backups, chronic overflows, and infrastructure neglect. We map the overlap between SSO frequency and demographic data.
900 Billion Gallons: America's Annual Sewage Problem
Add up all the reported sewer overflow events in the EPA database and you get a staggering number. But the reported total is almost certainly a fraction of reality. We dig into the math, the measurement gaps, and what 900 billion gallons actually means for waterways and public health.
Stay ahead of the spill
Get our investigations before they hit social. One email when we publish, zero noise in between. No marketing, no weekly digests — just original reporting on America's water infrastructure crisis.
No spam. Unsubscribe at any time.
Why Sewage Monitor Is Starting a Blog
Data without narrative is noise. A map of 75,000 annual sewer overflow events is striking, but it doesn't explain why it happens, who is responsible, what it costs communities, or what would actually fix it.
American sewage infrastructure has largely been a story told in technical reports, regulatory dockets, and engineering journals — not in the kind of accessible journalism that moves public opinion and drives political accountability. The UK's sewage crisis became a mainstream political issue because journalists and advocates made it legible to ordinary people. We think the same can happen here.
Our reporting will draw on the same EPA ECHO data that powers the map, supplemented by public records requests, interviews with regulators and utility managers, and community voices from neighborhoods that bear the highest overflow burden. We are committed to accuracy, transparency about our sources and methods, and a consistent environmental justice lens.