combined sewer system

Essay | Phila-smell-phia: How one city is finding that climate change really stinks
Muddy brown waters fill what is presumably streets and lower levels of a parking garage, which stands behind a bank of trees. Two mid-height office buildings are in the background

Flooding took over the northeast after Tropical Storm Ida in early September 2021. These floodwaters are in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia's neighbor to the northwest. (Michael M Stokes/Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0)

Molly Kaiser
George Washington University
Climate Hits Home | Philadelphia's sewage system and water infrastructure are being stressed by climate change and it's leading to a rather gross — and dangerous — situation.