GBA Senior Associate Gary Beck and Council Bluffs Director of Public Works Greg Reeder shared the success of the city’s Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Program in an article that appeared in the February issue of the APWA Reporter. The article sets out the level of effort required and steps needed to significantly change the level of protection of the city’s sewer system. Other cities can learn from this example.
A quick summary. Back-to-back storms during the summer of 1987 exceeded storm intervals and brought system inadequacies to the forefront. Even before the storms, basement backups and overflows to streams were common during storms. Deteriorating sewers, early design practices that allowed private storm connections, and incomplete and often inaccurate city records, contributed to the problems faced by the 150-year-old city. The following year Council Bluffs selected GBA to evaluate the condition of the sewer system and develop and implement an improvement plan.
Today more than 20 years later the program has been a great success. Steps have included investigation and pilot studies, funding source determination and approval, selection of design storm protection, investigative phases, database and GIS mapping, I/I reduction, structural repairs, and capacity improvement.
While the success of the Sanitary Sewer Rehab Program is apparent – damaging sewer backups and overflows have been reduced from hundreds annually to almost none – city leaders realize that maintaining the integrity of the system requires constant monitoring and capital investment.
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