Sanitation District No. 1 presented a report to the Campbell County Fiscal Court meeting on Feb. 1, highlighting their efforts to mitigate sewage overflow in the region.
Part of those efforts is the Clean H2040 project, which consists of equalization tanks to help eliminate sewage overflow. The first tanks built by SD1 are along Route 8 in Silver Grove; the other is in Wilder near Fredricks Landing. SD1 is working with the state and the United States Environmental Protection Agency on H2040.
SD1 manages wastewater and stormwater in Boone, Kenton, and Campbell Counties.
The region has two types of sewer systems, combined and separated.
SD1 describes the combined sewer system as “wastewater from homes and businesses that go through the same pipes as stormwater runoff to a treatment plant.” In the separated sanitary system, “wastewater and stormwater are carried in different pipes to different destinations, wastewater goes to a treatment plant, and stormwater goes to the nearest body of water.”
A sewer overflow occurs when the wastewater leaves the sewer system before reaching the treatment plant. Overflow is typically caused by excessive rain that overwhelms the system.
According to SD1, 1.5 billion gallons of combined system overflow are experienced in Northern Kentucky each year, and 115 million gallons of sanitary sewer overflow are experienced every year.
The report presented by the executive director of SD1, Adam Chaney, said they are planning to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in public sewer infrastructure over 20 years because overflows can cause public health, safety, and environmental problems.
Part of that investment is implementing controlled storage and release equalization tanks designed to hold millions of gallons of excess flow until a storm passes and slowly release the flow back into SD1’s system. The tanks built so far are in strategic areas with excess rainfall.
The first two tanks along Route 8 in Silver Grove, according to SD1, combined hold 3 million gallons when full and will help eliminate about 21 million gallons of typical year sanitary sewer overflow.
Through the H2040 program, SD1 has targets to be met by 2023, 2029, 2034, and 2040. They aim to eliminate typical-year sanitary sewer overflow and capture at least 85% of typical-year combined system flow.
The third tank, SD1, completed is located in Wilder at Fredricks Landing near the Licking River. Chaney said it holds 7 million gallons of flow and will eliminate 47 million gallons of typical year sanitary sewer overflow. This tank meets 40% of SD1’s yearly goal.
“I was told that this is one of the most trafficked areas for kayaks,” Chaney said. “There’s Fredrick’s landing; there are a lot of folks that kayak down there. You can imagine that it is one of our heaviest overflow areas. Those people after a rain event, I don’t want to get too graphic, but we don’t want sanitary sewer overflows in the waterways.”
The three tanks combined collect 58% of sanitary sewer overflow in the area, with a goal of 20% by July 2023. Their next milestone goal is 75% by 2029. Chaney said they are trying to implement more tanks now to meet their 2029 goal because, with inflation prices, costs will continue to increase.
“Everything we have done, and it isn’t because we love Campbell County, and we do; it’s because we’re trying to get the most amount of benefit in the quickest amount of time because that makes a lot of sense,” Chaney said.
Campbell County Commissioner Brian Painter said the project directly improves the county’s primary contact recreation waters.
