Dec. 8 on The Story: Rains of the kind we've seen this last week present all kinds of problems, like flooding and slides. But there's a problem that often lurks beneath the surface, and it really stinks: sewage. Once upon a time, Portland's wastewater system overflowed dozens of times each year, depositing a mixture of sewage and stormwater into the Willamette River. But in the early '90s, we reached critical mass for a big change. It came in the form of the "Big Pipe" project, a herculean undertaking that took about a decade to complete. But the upside is that when it rains, it doesn't pour sewage into the river — mostly. Watch more The Story videos: http://bit.ly/watchTheStory Follow The Story on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheStoryKGW Follow The Story on Instagram: https://instagram.com/thestorykgw