General Overview
Project Specifics
Neighborhood Impacts
Project Financing
Opportunities for Involvement
General Overview
The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility has been developing a long-term program that will be the largest capital improvement project in Evansville's history. The program - Renew Evansville - is in response to a state and federal mandate and will significantly upgrade one of Evansville's most important, yet unseen, assets. . . its sewer system.
The Clean Water Act, enforced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, mandates the control of sewer overflows across the U.S. Specifically, the Clean Water Act requires that the City develop a long-term plan to control combined sewer overflows, consistent with applicable water quality standards.
Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) occur when the amount of stormwater runoff and sanitary wastewater exceeds the capacity of the sewer infrastructure. In dry weather, stormwater and wastewater are sent to treatment plants. During rain events or snowmelt, the pipes cannot contain the stormwater/snowmelt resulting in overflows into local bodies of water. This is the way sewers were designed to operate until the 1950s.
CSOs contain municipal and industrial wastes, floating debris and disease-causing bacteria, among other things. Those pollutants are harmful to the environment and humans, and can prevent people from using the waters.
Approximately 100 years ago, Evansville and more than 1,000 other cities across the U.S. began building sewers to carry stormwater away from homes, businesses and streets. Later, with indoor plumbing, homes and businesses connected their sewage lines into those storm sewers, making them "combined" sewers. Wastewater treatment plants were constructed in the 1940s and 1950s to treat the waste, but in times of heavy rainfall or snowmelt, by design, wastewater overflowed into local bodies of water. In 1994, the U.S. EPA issued the National CSO Control Policy, which was subsequently incorporated into Section 402(q) of the Clean Water Act. The policy requires the control of CSO discharges.
In the past decade, Evansville has invested more than $120 million to improve its sewer system. While these projects are largely eliminating the decades-old problem of flooding on the southeast side of Evansville and have expanded the capacity of its treatment plants, much work remains to address CSOs.
Since the mid-1990s, the EPA has worked with the Department of Justice and state departments of environmental management to review combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges across the U.S. Indiana has CSOs in approximately 100 cities. The federal EPA pursued consent decrees – binding legal agreements – with 10 of those cities, including Evansville. The other 90 cities are addressing CSOs through agreements with the state. Regardless of whether the agreements are with federal or state regulators, all cities must work to reduce combined sewer overflows.
The City of Evansville and Evansville Water and Sewer Utility entered into a consent decree – a binding legal agreement – with the EPA, Department of Justice and State of Indiana in November 2010. That agreement was approved by a federal court in June 2011. The consent decree outlines Evansville’s plan to significantly reduce its combined sewer overflows. That program is Renew Evansville.
The consent decree addresses:
- Immediate upgrades to existing infrastructure
- The development of a long term capital plan to address combined sewer overflows and overflows and backups in parts of the separate sanitary sewer system
- Sustainable and “green” infrastructure solutions
- A regular and repeating sewer inspection and cleaning program
Evansville’s integrated overflow control plan projects will be constructed in two phases through 2040.
Cities that do not meet the terms of the consent decree face fines and penalties. Many of these fines range from $1,000 to $8,000 for each day the terms are not met.
More than 1,000 cities across the U.S. have combined sewer overflows. The larger the city, the more robust and expensive the efforts typically must be to address combined sewer overflows. Approximately 10 cities in Indiana have entered into consent decrees with the federal EPA. The other cities must still comply with the CSO policy, but their efforts are reviewed at the state level and implemented through discharge permits and/or state enforcement orders.
The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility will coordinate planning, design and construction with several City departments, including those related to sustainability and maintaining streets and sidewalks.
The American Water Works Association and Penn State have documented the challenge on a national level. A four-minute video about our aging system is available at www.liquidassets.psu.edu/liquid_trailer.wmv.
Project Specifics
This major capital program will include:
- Immediate upgrades to existing infrastructure
- A long-term capital improvement program to address combined sewer overflows and overflows in parts of the separate sanitary sewer system
- Sustainable and “green” infrastructure solutions
- Improvements to the utility’s operations and maintenance
Evansville has already implemented some early action projects and expects work on Evansville's Integrated Overflow Control Plan (IOCP) to begin in earnest in 2014. The Utility submitted a first draft of the IOCP on July 31, 2012, and a final version was originally scheduled to be delivered on Nov. 30, 2012. Regulators agreed to extend the deadline to May 31, 2013, after considering unprecedented rainfall measurements in 2011. As a result, specific construction projects and a schedule for improvements have not yet been approved. Once Renew Evansville projects have been approved by federal and state officials, the Utility anticipates it will have until 2040 to complete the construction projects to address overflows in the combined and separate systems.
Neighborhood Impacts
Renew Evansville will significantly reduce pollution in the Ohio River and Pigeon Creek. No projects are being considered that would reduce or block access, or negatively affect the river in any way.
The Utility believes impacts to traffic are likely during some sewer line construction for Renew Evansville. The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility will work closely with other City departments to ensure traffic restrictions are temporary and kept to a minimum.
Renew Evansville will help to improve water quality in the Ohio River and Pigeon Creek. Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) often contain municipal and industrial wastes, floating debris and disease-causing pathogens, among other contaminants, so greatly reducing CSOs will improve water quality.
Part of the consent decree includes supplemental environmental projects, two of which include switching neighborhoods that have failing septic systems over to the City’s system. None of the projects constructed by 2032 through Renew Evansville will include septic tank elimination, though.
There were six projects on the southeast side of Evansville to address neighborhood flooding. Those projects eliminated some combined sewers, but the projects were mostly not related to Renew Evansville.
Some homes have downspouts and sump pumps that are illegally connected to the sewer system. By disconnecting those downspouts, property owners can reduce the amount of stormwater in the combined sewers, and therefore reducing CSOs and the potential for basement backups, and avoid potential fines.
Project Financing
The federal and state regulators will give final approval for Renew Evansville and its programs. While Renew Evansville is being developed, community members’ feedback will be collected through a Citizens Advisory Committee, on the website and at public meetings.
During the first 20 years, the draft IOCP is estimated to cost $373 million. To achieve results targeted by EPA, the City's plan calls to extend the IOCP approximately eight more years for an estimated total cost of $540 million.
Renew Evansville will be funded mostly through user fees. The Utility will pursue low interest loans and grants where possible to help offset some of the costs.
Yes, customer rate increases are expected over the duration of the program, but are not expected to exceed 2 percent of Evansville's median household income.
Opportunities for Involvement
Visit www.RenewEvansville.com or follow us on Twitter @RenewEvansville for updates and information.
Yes. Requests for speakers may be submitted through the project website – www.RenewEvansville.com.