The MSD Sustainable Watershed Evaluation Process
Looking at Sustainable Wet Weather Solutions by Watershed
To create successful outcomes for wet weather projects, MSD needed to develop a systematic approach to identify opportunities for source control of rainwater. Keeping rainwater from entering the sewer system can lower construction costs of future infrastructure, and more importantly can provide the best opportunity to keep future annual costs as low as possible.
MSD developed the Sustainable Watershed Evaluation Process (SWEP), to take stock of ambient conditions and consider a wide range of options and strategies before determining the best way for reducing the volume of CSOs.
In South Fairmount, the SWEP was used to identify and evaluate existing and historical conditions of natural resources, infrastructure (roads, sewers), and socio-economic factors. The evaluation allowed MSD to develop a wet weather strategy and systematically determine how to best address wet weather needs in different locations and conditions. The process identified four different approaches to be deployed throughout the Lick Run watershed to achieve a potential reduction of over 1 billion gallons of overflow reduction.