What's the Solution?
The solution is Project Groundwork, one of the largest public works projects in the history of our community.
This multi-year initiative is comprised of hundreds of sewer improvement and storm water control projects across our area.
The projects will provide community benefits through sustainable solutions designed to:
- Reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) into local rivers and streams;
- Eliminate sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) in a typical year;
- Eliminate sewage backups into basements caused by MSD's sewer system;
- Reduce sewage debris and sewage odors in local waterways and make streams more pleasant after heavy rains.
Types of sustainable infrastructure projects include:
- New sewers – to replace existing sewers that are deteriorating or too small.
- Sewer separation – to divide a combined sewer into separate sanitary sewer and storm water lines.
- Upgrading pump stations – to handle greater amounts of wastewater during heavy rains and prevent overflows at the pump station.
- Upgrading treatment plants or building new ones – to treat greater amounts of wastewater during heavy rains.
- Eliminating pump stations and replacing them with gravity sewers – to eliminate overflows and odors at pump stations and reduce energy demands.
- Flow regulators – to control how much sewage and storm water moves through a sewer pipe.
- Enhanced high-rate treatment facilities – to treat combined sewer flows directly at the CSO outfall prior to discharge to a local waterway.
- Underground or aboveground storage facilities (e.g., tunnels) – to store excess wastewater during heavy rains.
- Stream separations or stream "daylighting" that remove storm water from a combined sewer and restore a natural stream channel.
- Green infrastructure such as pervious paving, bioretention basins, green roofs, and bioswales that keep storm water out of sewers.
Since 2004, MSD has already invested about $300 million in 71 wet weather projects, mainly focused on eliminating SSOs such as SSO 700, located along the Mill Creek in Reading.
Project Groundwork will be conducted in two phases: Phase 1 (2009-2018) and Phase 2 (after 2018).
Phase 1 (2009-2018)
Phase 1 projects, estimated to cost about $1.145 billion (in 2006 dollars), must be completed by or before 2018. Phase 1 projects and their schedules are stipulated in a "wet weather plan," which was conditionally approved by the U.S. and Ohio EPAs in June 2009.
Phase 1 is comprised of:
- 45 construction projects, including a deep tunnel to store storm water and wastewater in the Lower Mill Creek area. These sewer infrastructure improvements will take place in Green, Springfield, and Symmes townships, the City of Cheviot, and 19 neighborhoods within the City of Cincinnati.
- A 3-year action plan (2009-2011) for the Lower Mill Creek area, located to the west and northwest of downtown Cincinnati, to resolve two billion gallons of combined sewer overflows each year. The remedy listed is a deep tunnel, but MSD is researching more sustainable alternatives. See the Sustainable Solutions sidebar under Community Benefits.
- A 3-year study (2009-2011) to determine the best "green practices" to control storm water flows in combined sewer areas. See the Sustainable Solutions sidebar under Community Benefits.
- Planning work for specific projects to be completed in Phase 2.
Phase 1 projects will be complemented by Project Groundwork Asset Management and Assessment Sewer projects.
For a list of the Phase 1 projects, please click here.
For a complete list of Phase 1 and other sewer construction projects in your neighborhood, please visit the Projects page.
Phase 2 (after 2018)
Phase 2, estimated to cost about $2.1 billion (in 2006 dollars), is comprised of about 256 construction projects across Hamilton County.
The Phase 2 projects are stipulated in a "wet weather plan," which was conditionally approved by the U.S. and Ohio EPAs in June 2009.
The project schedule for Phase 2 has not yet been developed. It must be submitted to the U.S. and Ohio EPAs by 2017 for approval.
Planning and design of these projects may occur prior to the 2017 schedule submittal.
Phase 2 projects will be complemented by Project Groundwork Asset Management and Assessment Sewer projects.
