The City of Tuscaloosa has over 700 plus miles of sewer collection lines with 66 active lift stations and over 12,000 manholes. The Water & Sewer Department also operates the Hilliard N. Fletcher Water Resource Recovery Facility, which treats over 17 million gallons of wastewater each day. The Water & Sewer Department provides uninterrupted clean water and sewer services to Tuscaloosa residents.
Additionally, the collections network of the Water & Sewer Department has a robust maintenance plan which includes acoustic pipe inspection, closed-circuit TV pipe inspection, gravity line maintenance cleaning, gravity line replacement, system point repairs, manhole inspection, manhole rehabilitation, system smoke testing, and a formal Fats, Oils & Grease (FOG) program.
Finally, an achievement that the department is especially proud of is reducing the number of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) per year to a fraction of what it was in previous years. SSOs have been reduced by over 80% since 2009. This improvement is primarily due to the increased frequency of sewer manhole and line inspection, cleaning, and rehabilitation, combined with the City's formally adopted Fats/Oils/Grease (FOG) Management Program.
Sanitary Sewer Overflow Notice
Date: 3/27/2026
Discharge Volume: 21,900-gallons approximately
Location: 600 Block of 6th Ave NE
Latitude: 33.222373
Longitude: -87.530655
Destination: Black Warrior River
Cause: ARV Failure
Failure: City wastewater staff responded to reports from residents regarding a sewer discharge in the 600 block of 6th Avenue NE. Upon arrival, crews assessed the situation and determined that the discharge was caused by a failure of an ARV. Vacuum trucks were deployed to contain and mitigate the discharge. City contractors were then dispatched to replace the faulty ARV, which successfully stopped the overflow. Following the repair, city crews cleaned and disinfected the affected SSO area using pure green 24. SSO signage is in place at potential access points along the Black Warrior River. Crews will continue to monitor the site, and monitoring of receiving waters is currently ongoing. The volume and duration of the SSO were estimated based on field observation and manhole spillage chart. The Tuscaloosa County Health Department as well as the Alabama Department of Environmental Management are being notified.