storms blew through Cleveland this morning, causing a 4:30am combined sewer overflow at Edgewater beach.

it was the 4th overflow here this season:
• Mar 29
• Jul 27
• Sep 7
• Oct 21

in the 1970s, this happened >40x a year. what has changed and what more can be done? 1/

behind this flap gate at edgewater beach is a sewer tunnel more than 100 years old.

its function? provide relief to the combined sewers to prevent backups and flooding when heavy sudden rains overwhelm the system. it was a good idea back in the day. it’s a problem now. 2/

over decades as the region developed, increasing runoff led to combined sewers reaching capacity more quickly in heavy storms.

that meant more frequent overflows to the tune of 9billion gal/yr in the ‘70s.

an issue that took years to emerge was going to take years to fix. 3/

from the 70s to 2000s, our work expanding our treatment plants and increasing system capacity cut that volume in half to 4.5billion.

but more had to be done.

in 2010 Project Clean Lake was that “more” setting sights on preventing an add’l 4B gal of overflow/yr by 2036. 4/

we are 10yrs into Project Clean Lake.

we’re building bigger tunnels.

we’re increasing green space and green infrastructure.

we’re increasing capacity.

we’re removing combined sewer outfalls and preventing overflows.

but overflows still occur. far less often, but they do. 5/

the outfall at Edgewater beach is an example of both progress and ongoing challenge. it will continue to be as Project Clean Lake advances, but we are actively looking at options for removing or modifying this particular outfall.

Project Clean Lake is making a difference. 6/

we’ll continue to seek the best performance for streams and sewers. we’re committed to a cleaner Lake Erie. we’ll meet these challenges and others as we have for decades.

it’s what we do. 7/7