Posted by Jared Shepherd 
The green you see is not pollution. But it can help identify pollution sources. When our Water Quality & Industrial Surveillance team is called in to find the source of a hazardous spill or an illegal discharge—like this one in Rocky River last year—the crew conducts dye testing like...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd 
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 ...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd 
It’s a crisp August morning, and that can mean only one thing: Wastewater treatment. Well maybe it means two things: Back to school, and wastewater treatment. 7 ways wastewater treatment is like the first day back to school from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd 
In recent weeks, hikers along Metroparks streams or winter-stroll beachgoers may have seen a surge of dead fish washed up on the shore. Is the die-off of these silvery blue-green fish a sign of environmental turmoil, or a natural occurrence? It’s the latter, and it happens regularly. Shad can’t...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd 
Photo by J. Quinn Summer days and dog walking go hand in hand. On your walks, have you seen any of our PUP signs? The requests for them continue coming in, but so do the questions about the real motivators behind this successful campaign. Our Pick Up Poop! (PUP)...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd “We’ll continue to work on this until we exhaust all our leads. We are working with other entities as well. Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, everyone is working together to try and figure this one out.” Sewer District Director of Watershed Programs Frank Greenland spoke...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd 
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...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd Scarves and shovels and salt are all common responses to the snows of winter. But how does the rock salt protecting us on the roadways affect the quality of the water flowing to the Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie? While no risk to humans, rock salt can affect water...
Read More Posted by Jared Shepherd Under the ever-so-catchy “Poo into power” headline, the Plain Dealer updated readers today with a status report on our Renewable energy facility (REF) that will turn waste heat into enough energy to power 25% of the plant’s electricity needs. Read the story.
Read More