WEATHER: Do Great Lakes have storm surges?

Storm clouds move across Lake Erie behind our Westerly Wastewater Treatment Plant. Nick Bucurel.

When waterborne natural disasters like hurricanes affect the coasts, one of the biggest threats is not the wind. It's the storm surge.

The surge is the dramatic rise of sea levels and wave height along a coast ahead of the hurricane. While a hurricane is an ocean phenomenon, do the Great Lakes have storm surges? The answer is yes.

Lake Erie and its sister Great Lakes' storm surges are also referred to as seiches, changes in water levels and movements caused by storms. They can be dramatic but without the surge warning that precedes hurricane events.

Michigan Sea Grant reports one of the greatest reported seiches was in Lake Michigan in 1956 when lake levels jumped 10 feet so unexpectedly that beachgoers had to run for safety.

Lightning streak behind Easterly Plant.

Wastewater treatment facilities like ours sit right along the Lake Erie shoreline. Could they be affected by a seich? Not likely. Most storms across Lake Erie blow from west to east, the same direction as the orientation of our lake. That means the eastern and western ends of the lake are more susceptible to the large-scale sloshing of the lake water levels.

Still, rain has a major effect on wastewater treatment systems (especially in older cities like Cleveland where sewage and stormwater flow in the same sewers) and regional stream networks.

LOOK: Treatment-plant steam coats trees with icy crystals

A winter wastewater wonderland?

When the temps drop below freezing and the wastewater flowing through our treatment plants' outdoor tanks is a near-constant 50ºF, the result is a whole lotta steam cascading across the plant landscape. Southerly Operator Christen Wood sent us a beautiful photo of the result.

The steam freezes to nearby trees. The ice crystals didn't last long, though; she sent a follow-up photo a few short hours later after the sunrise.

RELATED STORIES:

• WOW: Bubbling tanks, frigid temps result in wondrous icy landscape
• NEWS: Does Lake Erie's freezing trend mean more algae in the summer?

#BuffaloSnow: 2011 video shows how rain and snow melt can overwhelm streams and sewer systems

Seven feet of snow followed by 60 degree temperatures and rain.

The conditions of Buffalo, NY seem almost surreal, but the area is preparing for flooding anticipated as streams and sewers are surely going to be stressed by the combination of warming temps, snow melt and stormwater this week.

Northeast Ohio faced a similar situation in February 2011. The snowfall totals then were nowhere close to the 80+ inches Buffalo faced last week, but the already saturated ground beneath a layer of snow-pack caused surface runoff volumes to spike, overwhelming sewers and streams.

WOW: "Wannabe photog" captures lightning strike, eerie shelf cloud over Lake Erie

When storms pop up over Lake Erie, our wastewater treatment plant operators are ready. It's a bonus when someone has a camera ready, too.

These amazing images were taken by one of our consultants from Brown & Caldwell by the name of Nick Bucurel. Nick is on-call at all hours of the day as his job is to monitor some of our plant processes that are only operational during heavy storms. (It's a pilot process known as Chemically Enhanced High-Rate Treatment, or CEHRT).

Lucky for us, his Twitter bio says he's also a wannabe photog.

NEWS: Litigation hinders ability to assist communities hit by Monday’s storm [#StormwaterProgram]

A stream rack holds back storm debris near Cleveland Hopkins
International Airport following a heavy rain event May 12.

$20 million remains inaccessible in stormwater escrow

Northeast Ohio communities are underwater from the storm that moved into the region on Monday night. Unfortunately, as a result of the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals ruling that the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District does not have the authority to implement a Regional Stormwater Management Program, affected communities are now left to address the aftermath without the Sewer District’s assistance and expertise.

Ironically, the storm occurred on the same day those in support of the Regional Stormwater Program filed amicus briefs with the Ohio Supreme Court on the Sewer District’s behalf. They include 18 supporting member communities (one brief), City of Cleveland, National Association of Clean Water Agencies and Association of Ohio Municipal Wastewater Agencies, Coalition of Ohio Regional Districts, The State of Ohio through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, and The Cleveland Metroparks.

WOW: Bubbling tanks, frigid temps result in wondrous icy landscape

Well that's not something we see every day.

These open-air aeration tanks inject air bubbles into the wastewater during the treatment process at our Southerly plant, but this event is something rarely seen before.

Here's what the tanks look like in normal conditions (left image), bubbling and swirling to support microorganisms that help consume germs in the water.

But as temps bottomed out last night (above), nearing almost 40 degrees below zero with the wind chill, the surfaces froze, but water continued to bubble through holes in the ice. The result is an amazing array of ice pillars silhouetted against the morning sky in Cuyahoga Heights.

Does the ice affect this part of the treatment process? Yes and no, Wastewater Plant Operator in Training Christen Wood told me.

"The air is in the channel to encourage mixing and prevent freezing," she said, but the "insanely cold" temps like recently are very rare. The ice "probably will even melt during the day today. The microorganisms themselves are harder to grow in the winter, so we keep a higher percentage of them around all winter long" to compensate.

She added that the wastewater coming into the plant is fairly warm already when compared to the environment around it, and that helps "keep the bugs alive until spring."

Hat tip to Southerly's own Nick Fillipelli for the photo, and to Christen Wood for passing it our way.

WEATHER: Melting snow, heavy rain, flood warnings in the forecast

With snow on the ground and heavy rain in the forecast, be prepared.

Some of our local Cleveland weather friends are predicting several inches of rain likely this weekend. With snow still standing on the saturated ground, it is possible that the rainfall could affect areas prone to flooding. What steps can you take in advance? Video after the jump.

LINK: What causes that after-the-rain smell? Scientists have a theory.

We open windows after a summer rain. Not only is the air cooler, it has a tangible freshness to it, a certain smell that is unique to the post-storm experience.

And scientists have theorized about where that smell comes from.

io9 says the aroma's basic ingredients are [deep breath] ozone and bacteria spores.

Ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms linked together. io9 goes on:

Ozone is sometimes used to kill off odors, especially smoky and moldy odors. The clean scent after a rainfall is partially caused by ozone cleaning away some of the scents we take for granted. Ozone also has a scent all its own. Some say it's like geraniums, but others compare it to a light bleach scent.

LIST: Wait, people thought Cleveland was bad?

"16 reasons Cleveland is not as bad as you think"? We guess 16 is a fine place to start, but the list could go on and on, and there are a few glaring omissions.

This week, Buzzfeed posted a fun piece with that title, noting examples like Charles Ramsey's heroics, our Millionaire's Row past, homegrown celebs, and 21,000 acres of glorious Cleveland Metroparks.

Plus the Hollywood attention we're getting over the next two months.

All great examples, believe us, but there could have been at least these three others.

NEWS: Sewage is new source of ski resort snow in Arizona

Let it snow, let it snow, let it... flow?

Last month, an Arizona ski resort began making snow entirely from its most reliable water source: Water recycled from Flagstaff's sewage.

Wednesday's Bloomberg story reads:

The ski area near Flagstaff is the first in the U.S. to make snow entirely from treated effluent—something that could become more widespread as facilities across the country confront drought, future water restrictions and climate change.

In our line of work, all water is recycled, really.

#RAINMATTERS: Special workshop will welcome local TV weather personalities

This afternoon, we've invited local TV meteorologists to join us for a #RainMatters workshop.

Chances of a stormwater education? 100 percent.

With the help of WKYC Chief Meteorologist Betsy Kling, the Sewer District designed a workshop to present the history of and relationship between sewers and the regional stormwater system. The workshop is worth continuing-education credits offered by the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association.

24/7: Wastewater never takes a holiday

There are no "normal" business hours because, well, people are doing their business at all hours of the day.

Many residents may not realize our three wastewater treatment plants—Southerly in Cuyahoga Heights, and Easterly and Westerly in Cleveland—are operated by staff working around the clock to treat wastewater and protect public health and the environment. Our administrative offices are closed on Federal holidays, but operations, security, lab staff, and maintenance crews are on-hand or on-call at all times. That includes holidays, weekends, snow days, and every other day of the year.

Whatever the weather

On snowy weekends, operations staff also must pay close attention to weather patterns: Snow may not mean an immediate increase in the amount of stormwater flowing into treatment plants from the Cleveland area, but as it begins to melt, flows increase, sometimes significantly.

It was February 2011 when Southerly was overwhelmed by a combination of stormwater, melting snow, and saturated ground which led to a flooding situation endangering plant processes and damaging equipment. Plant personnel responded quickly and professionally to protect each other and the environment.

Whatever the holiday

In the summer, every morning before Cleveland beaches are filled with guests, our staff is out collecting and analyzing water samples to ensure the safety of swimmers. That's true on Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and all summer long.

24/7/365. All year round.

Whatever the season, whatever the weather, whatever the holiday, rest assured that the Sewer District's processes and people keep working around the clock to keep our Great Lake great.

PHOTO: Weather monitor will track Villa Angela trends

Wind speed, rainfall, wave height, temperature and more data will be collected soon using a new weather-monitoring station being installed at Wildwood Marina in Cleveland.