What happens if the amount of rainwater exceeds storage capacity?
Generally, only during the most prolonged intense rainstorms do the storage boxes completely fill up with water. Instead of allowing the excess water to backup through the sewers into homes and streets, water is discharged into either the Bay or Ocean through one of 36 discharge points. Three important things to remember: • Discharges are mainly rainwater. In fact, studies have shown that it is 94 percent stormwater! • The boxes are designed to double as treatment tanks. Read above for more information. • On average, only 10 discharges happen each year. Before the storage/transport boxes were constructed, discharges happened more than 80 times a year without any treatment!
