Sanitary Sewers and SSOs

Wastewater Collection and Sanitary Sewers

Overview
The City’s wastewater collection system is comprised of a separated sanitary sewer system. (Raw sewage and stormwater sewage are carried through separate pipes). Overall the wastewater collection system serves roughly 29,500 people with approximately 8,000 service connections. Approximately 12% of the system is less than 20 years old, 76% of the system is between 21 and 60 years old, and 12% is over 60 years old. All wastewater is treated at Westfield’s Neck Road Water Recovery Facility designed to treat 6.1 million gallons per day of wastewater. The City’s wastewater collection system infrastructure includes: 18 pump stations, 3,969 manholes, 677,800 lineal feet of gravity sewers, 18,600 lineal feet of dry sewers, and 25,660 lineal feet of force main. Primary pipe materials consist of vitrified clay (VC), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), asbestos cement (AC), ductile iron (DI), and reinforced concrete (RC) pipe. The City owns the service laterals in the public right‐of way but not on private property.

Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs)

By design, sanitary sewers are a closed system and sewage should not reach the waterways directly before treatment at the Water Recovery Facility. Occasionally however, during extreme circumstances (pipe breakages, treatment system malfunctions, etc.) untreated sewage can find its way into a waterway. These circumstances are called Sanitary Sewer Overflows, and are required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to be reported to the public. Read more about SSOs here: https://www.epa.gov/npdes/sanitary-sewer-overflows-ssos

Want to be notified directly about Sanitary Sewer Overflows? 
You can sign up for public advisory notifications about Sanitary Sewer Overflows through the City's Notify Me system. Scroll down to "Alert Center" and choose to sign up via email or text to Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Alerts.

Need to report a Sanitary Sewer Overflow?
If you suspect you've found a situation where untreated sewage is flowing into, or could potentially flow into a stream or river in Westfield, please notify the Department of Public Works at (413) 572-6226 (during business hours), or after hours by calling the Westfield Police at (413) 562-5411.

Links to information about swimming areas that could potentially be affected by SSOs:
Hampton Ponds State Park   
Massachusetts Environmental Public Health Tracking - Recreational Water