Massive Sewer Makeover OK’D
By Spencer Hunt, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
Jul. 19–State environmental regulators approved a $2.5 billion makeover of Columbus’ leaky sewer system yesterday, with no agreement on how long it will take to do the work.
The city had hoped the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency would OK a 40-year schedule to end sewage overflows to streams. Officials instead got an EPA letter that orders them to draft additional plans to complete the project in 25, 30 or 35 years.
"The agency would obviously like to see this done faster than the schedule proposed by Columbus," said Paul Novak, Ohio EPA’s surface water permits and compliance manager.
Novak said the city won’t have to submit the faster timetables until July 1, 2016. He said that will allow both sides to evaluate how quickly the work can be done and its cost to homeowners and businesses.
The city still thinks a 40-year plan is the best option to spread out its cost, said Rick Tilton, Columbus’ assistant public utilities director. Even at 40 years, the project could nearly triple sanitary sewer rates by the time all the work is complete.
"We want to do everything we can to make sure rates are affordable," Tilton said.
The city’s sewer system can’t handle heavy rainfalls. Rainwater leaks into aging sanitary sewer lines, pushing sewage into streams.
Older combined sewers located Downtown and in the Ohio State University area are designed to dump sewage into rivers during hard rains.
Storms flush more than 1 billion gallons of untreated sewage from overflow pipes into the Scioto and Olentangy rivers and Alum Creek each year.
There were 341 overflows to streams last year, a 12 percent increase over 2006. The increase was blamed on heavier-than-average rainfall.
Raw sewage contains germs and toxins that can sicken people and kill wildlife.
The work calls for huge storage tunnels to be built along the Scioto, the Olentangy and Alum Creek to prevent sewage spills. Novak said the Olentangy tunnel should be complete by 2015.
The experience of building that tunnel should provide state and city officials with more information on how quickly the rest of the project could be completed, Novak said.
It also would provide better estimates on the costs if the work is done faster than the city proposed.
The city and state expect to see substantial reductions in sewage overflows with the projects already under way.
"They’ll be reducing half a billion gallons of sewage by 2010," Novak said.
shunt@dispatch.com
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