Full Notification

Honorable Anthony Copeland, Mayor NPDES Permit No. IN0022829

**COMBINED SEWER EMERGENCY BYPASS DISCHARGE

NOTIFICATION**

 

The City of East Chicago’s publicly owned treatment works (POTW) collects and treats wastewater generated by approximately 5,440 residential, 200 public/government, 1,265 commercial and small, unpermitted industrial, and 13 permitted industrial accounts.

Year to date, the POTW influent has averaged 12.4 million gallons per day. On Thursday morning July 31, 2025, a catastrophic event occurred near the rail tracks on Kennedy Avenue/Huish Drive and 151st wherein a 42” diameter buried forcemain carrying approximately 80% of the plants daily influent flow of wastewater from our Alder Street lift station was damaged by an outside contractor using directional drilling to install fiber optic cable.

Immediate steps taken by the City included shutting off the sanitary pumps at the Alder lift station and using the storm water pumps to divert the wastewater to the Grand Calumet River at our Combined Sewer Overflow outfall location CSO #003, located on Frontage Rd West of the Cline Avenue bridge (CSO Outfall #003 signage is posted at the location).

The wastewater at CSO #003 is being discharged at an estimated 8 to 10 million gallons per day. This discharge will continue until the City is able to install a pipe clamp onto the broken 42” forcemain. Once the pipe clamp is installed, the sanitary pumps at Alder lift station will be turned on and the emergency bypass discharge to the Grand Calumet will cease.

During this time, the City is conducting daily inspections of outfall discharge and has implemented a daily sampling program which includes the collection of water samples from the Grand Calumet River at the outfall location as well as locations upstream and downstream of the Outfall #003.

The City of East Chicago recommends that individuals avoid direct contact with water in the Grand Calumet River within 1000 yards of the CSO #003 outfall location until this emergency bypass release has been terminated and the river conditions are returned to pre-emergency conditions.

Consumption of, or direct contact with, waste contaminated water could make you ill.

If you have any questions, please contact the East Chicago Sanitary District at 219-391-8466.