As part of the Blueprint Columbus program, the City chose the Clintonville area to launch its first pilot project to target reduction of sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). Through this project, the City of Columbus developed its approach to SSO remediation, which will then be applied to all older areas in the city over the next 30 years. We assisted the City of Columbus, Division of Sewerage and Drainage, in determining the appropriate level of service and control (from a water quantity and a water quality standpoint) needed to achieve the City’s SSO reduction goals.
We designed more than 50 local green infrastructure (GI) stormwater control facilities to offset the increased stormwater runoff created by redirection of downspouts to the curb line. These GI facilities, or “bioretention basins,” consisted of four-sided, precast concrete boxes with open bottoms. The bioretention basins included an engineered soil profile that allowed for approximately 12 inches of surface ponding within the basin. Plantings in the basins were selected for wet conditions, to be low maintenance and to fit the character of the community. The basins were constructed at the back of the curb in the tree lawn and required construction of thousands of feet of storm sewer in the existing street to convey flow from the underdrains to the existing storm sewer that runs through the center of the project area.
The construction of the storm sewer and basins also required the design of thousands of feet of waterline, coordination with the private gas utility so as to facilitate the relocation of their infrastructure, reconstruction of existing driveways to meet current City standards, curb replacement, and repaving of large portions of the 165-acre project area. We also assisted the City in developing plans and specifications for sanitary sewer lateral lining and downspout redirection for the more than 400 homes in the project area.
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