Sewage

A yellow, two-story building named Ferns with two American flags.

This MA town is drowning in its own sewage — and residents like it that way

Susan Murcott, a waste water expert, said if Carlisle didn't address their leaking sewage, the problem could turn “deadly.”

October 22, 2026 - Boston Globe

Signs in English and Spanish warn of sewage contamination on hiking trail and beach near Tijuana River.

San Diego County to build treatment plant for Tijuana River sewage pollution crisis

The river has carried millions of gallons of untreated sewage into San Diego’s South Bay region.

September 4, 2026 - NBC San Diego

Colorful sunset view over Chattahoochee River in Georgia.

Comment: EPA Cuts will Send Atlanta Back to Eye-burning Ozone, Lung-damaging Smog, and Raw Sewage in the Chattahoochee River

A veteran political journalist takes stock of the hard-earned ground Georgia stands to lose with slashed environmental protection.

April 14, 2025 - Georgia Recorder

Large metal pipe discharging water or wastewater into creek or body of water with shrubs and field in background.

Supreme Court Could Curb EPA’s Water Quality Regulation Powers

A suit brought by the city of San Francisco argues that the agency’s language around water treatment and discharge is too vague and imposes retroactive penalties.

October 20, 2024 - Roll Call

Two concrete pipes discharging dirty water into river.

Study: Combined Sewer Systems Face Increased Flood Risk

Cities like Philadelphia and Boston are at higher risk of sewage overflows due to their aging sewer systems and rising sea levels.

July 1, 2024 - Eurasia Review

 The west tunnel entrance to the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant in March 2020 with O and A letters missing in Oceanside.

San Francisco Takes on EPA in Supreme Court Case

The Court has agreed to hear an appeal challenging federal water pollution regulations.

May 30, 2024 - San Francisco Chronicle

Mobile home with pipe directed into the yard into a pit of standing sewage.

Closing the ‘Wastewater Gap’ in the Black Belt

Newly announced federal funding will help resolve the decades’ long sewer crisis faced by rural majority-Black communities in Alabama and Mississippi.

February 19, 2024 - Word In Black

Sepia-toned photo of flooded street with residential home

Chicago Flood Mitigation Scrambles to Keep up With Climate Change

The city’s geography and the growing intensity of storms due to climate change are making it difficult for local officials to prevent neighborhood flooding and wastewater spills.

July 20, 2023 - Governing

Water Treatment

San Diego Launches Massive Sewage Treatment Project

The ambitious Pure Water project is designed to reduce the city's dependence on imported water and limit the amount of sewage dumped into the ocean.

August 27, 2021 - San Diego Union-Tribune

Vacant Properties

The Legacy of Structural Poverty in Alabama

In rural Alabama, a long history of racial inequality and poverty has left people struggling to survive in uninhabitable housing.

November 18, 2020 - The New York Times

Mississippi River Missouri

Polluted Chicago Water Travels Over 1,000 Miles and Wreaks Havoc in the Gulf

An algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted in an oxygen-starved area the size of Massachusetts. Part of the problem is sewage runoff flowing south from Chicago.

June 22, 2019 - Chicago Tribune

Sewer

Florida Plagued by Sewage Spills

The state’s aging sewage infrastructure is failing, but the cost to replace it would be monumental.

April 15, 2019 - GateHouse Media

Hurricane Florence Causes Coal Ash Spill at Former Coal Power Plant

The breach of the coal ash landfill by a former coal-burning power plant in Wilmington, North Carolina serves as a reminder that even after coal plants are shuttered, the by-products of the world's most polluting fossil fuel can still cause harm.

September 19, 2018 - Utility Dive

Stormwater Infrastructure

How to Keep Billions of Gallons of Sewage Out of a Waterway

The Anacostia River Tunnel is just one component of DC Water's Clean River Project, but it's already making a huge difference.

July 16, 2018 - Greater Greater Washington

San Diego Harbor

After the Drought, San Diego Faces Lead and Sewage

In 2017, the Southern California city no longer had to be concerned about water quantity, but was plagued by issues of water quality.

January 3, 2018 - Voice of San Diego

Outhouse

Sanitation Without Sewers

In much of the world, people do not have access to toilets and sewers. To make these places safer, innovators look for cheap, easy-to-install solutions.

September 29, 2017 - Next City

Louisville Provides a Case Study for Sewage Clean Up

The Courier-Journal is launching a series of reports on the city of Louisville's ongoing work to clean up its sewer system.

October 23, 2016 - Courier-Journal

St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg Struggling to Keep its Sewage out of its Bays

A writer for the Tampa Bay Times critiques the city of St. Petersburg's response to repeat storm events that have sent millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into its public waters.

July 19, 2016 - Tampa Bay Times

D.C. Turns Poop to Power

No, the title does not refer to Congress, it is meant to be taken literally: It is about the District of Columbia's sewage treatment plant that produces renewable energy by treating its biosolids with a new hydrolysis technology imported from Norway.

October 10, 2015 - The Washington Post

Sandy's Enduring Environmental and Public Health Disaster

The raw and partially treated sewage that has for the past month, and continues to, flow into the New York region's waterways "will be one of the most enduring and expensive effects of Hurricane Sandy," reports Michael Schwirtz.

November 30, 2012 - The New York Times

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.