While our community’s ability to defend the Cuyahoga River, Lake Erie and all of our waterways takes a commitment from everyone, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) has taken a lead role, investing in numerous projects since its formation in 1972.
The creation of the Clean Water Act in 1972 addressed our nation’s water quality issues. Over the next several decades, the Sewer District’s projects would significantly reduce discharges from an estimated 9 billion gallons a year to 4.1 billion in 2015.
On the eve of the 50th Anniversary of the Cuyahoga River Fire, the District is still moving forward, with aggressive projects that will protect our greatest natural resource well into the future.
Project Clean Lake is the Sewer District’s $3 billion, 25-year plan to drastically reduce the amount of combined sewage entering local waterways during heavy rains. Created by a consent decree signed in 2011 with the U.S. EPA, Ohio EPA and U.S. Department of Justice, it includes a combination of large, deep tunnels, treatment plant improvements and expansion and green infrastructure. This plan will reduce combined sewer overflows (CSOs) from more than 4 billion gallons to less than 500 million gallons annually by 2036.
The NEORSD also played a key role in the remarkable recovery of the Cuyahoga River. While still very much a working river, today it is a centerpiece of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and home to rowers, scullers and recreational boaters. The paths that line its banks host hikers and cyclists of all ages.
Certainly, the district’s industrial pretreatment program has a transformational impact on the river’s health. In addition to wastewater from homes and commercial facilities, the Sewer District receives wastewater from industrial facilities, which often contain pollutants that are not typically found in the wastewater from a home. The district ensures that wastewater discharged from industrial facilities meets EPA standards under the Clean Water Act.
“Thankfully, industrial pollution of years past is no longer a major issue for our local waterways,” says Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, CEO of the NEORSD. “As we approach the 50th anniversary of the last Cuyahoga River fire, we can point to the improvements we see today. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River was declared ‘dead’ by national media, yet today is home to more than 60 species of fish.”
Over the years, the Sewer District’s service area has also almost doubled in size. At the time it was formed, its service area included the city of Cleveland and 38 surrounding communities. Today, the district serves all of Cleveland and 61 surrounding communities.
“We grew in part from the need of communities to decommission small, difficult-to-manage wastewater treatment plants,” says Dreyfuss-Wells. “Many of these discharged into the Cuyahoga River and prompted the design and construction of the Cuyahoga Valley Interceptor.”
All told, the NEORSD has invested $4 billion in our region’s sewer and stormwater infrastructure, including: upgrades and expansion at its three wastewater treatment plants; construction of new interceptor sewers to carry sanitary flow to its plants — Cuyahoga Valley, Heights-Hilltop, Northwest and Southwest; development of the Regional Stormwater Management Program to address flooding, erosion and water quality problems; and completion of the Euclid Creek Tunnel and Tunnel Dewatering Pump Station as part of Project Clean Lake to manage combined sewer overflow.
Enhancements to the district’s three wastewater treatment plants, which together treat more than 90 billion gallons each year, are another crucial component of Project Clean Lake. At the Easterly and Southerly plants, the amount of wastewater that can receive treatment will increase. This is necessary to accommodate the greater volumes of combined flow that will no longer be allowed to discharge into the environment.
In particular, Easterly has undergone major construction to expand its secondary treatment capacity.
Completed in 1984, the Cuyahoga Valley Interceptor is 22 miles long, collecting flows from 11 communities in Cuyahoga County and nine communities in Summit County. It conveys the flows to the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Center.
The completion of the Mill Creek Tunnel, a tributary to the Cuyahoga River, is credited with the vast improvements of fish health and diversity in both waterways. Euclid Creek includes an 18,000-foot-long, 24-foot-wide storage tunnel 200 feet underground. The finished tunnel has the capacity to capture 65 million gallons of combined wastewater and stormwater.
The new Westerly Storage Tunnel will also help to reduce CSOs impacting the Cuyahoga River. This $135 million project will be complete in 2020. The WST system will help control overflows at two locations and reduce sewer overflow pollution to the environment by 328 million gallons per year.
The NEORSD’s work has not gone unnoticed. It has received numerous industry awards for performance at its three wastewater treatment plants from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA). Earlier this year, the Sewer District received two awards from NACWA, the Operations and Environmental Performance Award for its “Sludge to Soil” partnership with Kurtz Bros. and the Public Information and Education Award for its “Let’s Ask” video series on social media. The District also received five 2018 Cleveland Rocks Awards from PRSA Greater Cleveland for its various public relations campaigns to educate the public about the work it does.
“As we’re heading towards the 50th anniversary of the most infamous Cuyahoga River fire, celebrate the fact that the River is no longer on fire,” says Dreyfuss-Wells. Wildlife has made a comeback, we are seeing high biological scores in our waterways and even bald eagles have made the Cuyahoga River home.
“It’s also important to note that the progress we have seen since 1969 is a direct result of the strong regulations and federal financial support to address public health and water quality issues.”
On Sept. 21, as a part of its Annual Open House and Clean Water Fest, the District will open its Southerly treatment plant and lab facilities in Cuyahoga Heights for education and entertainment.