The City of Covington is officially set to begin engineering work on anti-flooding measures in the Latonia neighborhood, specifically in the areas of 36th Street and Park Avenue.
“This contract is the culmination of our commitment to the people of Latonia to address the street and basement flooding at 36th and Park,” said Mayor Joe Meyer at this city commission meeting Tuesday, where the commission voted to enter a contract for the work with VS Engineering, a firm with offices in Ohio and Indiana.
The plan has been in the works for years. The flooding problem stems from the area’s old combined sewer systems, an issue that plagues much of the older infrastructure in the Northern Kentucky region. Combined sewer systems channel both storm water run-off and sewage overflow in the same system, which can lead to flooding.
VS Engineering recommended separating the two systems out. Meyer stated on Tuesday that the new system would be capable of dealing with 100-year flooding events, which refer to floods that have a 1% statistical likelihood of occurring every year. This is in contrast to 10 or 20-year flooding events, which have 10% and 5% likelihoods in a year, respectively.
Tuesday’s contract only deals with the initial engineering work.
“Once the engineering work is completed, then we’re going to have to sit down again with the Sanitation District to work out an allocation of cost sharing,” Meyer said.
Meyer added that the city’s contribution to the project would likely come out of reserves in the city’s storm water fund. A timeline for when the project will be completed is unclear.
View a map of the project area below.
