Mark Huskey, an Insituform Technologies crewman, monitors equipment that blows steam into a section of recently repaired sewer pipe under Haun Drive SW in Cleveland, Tenn.CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A long-term Cleveland Utilities project to reduce the number and severity of wastewater overflows is well under way early in its second year of operations.
Earlier this year, Cleveland Utilities decided to redouble the rehabilitation under its 10-year Strategic Commitment to Protect the Environment — known as SCOPE-10 — by committing $29 million to the program over its life, more than double the $14 million originally proposed in 2011.
“We think we need to step it up and address those issues once and for all,” General Manager Tom Wheeler said previously of the escalated commitment to SCOPE-10 and overflow problems associated with extra-heavy rains in September 2011.
On and in the ground, that means that utility crews and specialist contractors have dedicated time and resources to detecting stormwater inflow and infiltration problems in the sewage network. Invasive stormwater is the core component to sanitary sewer overflows, and it generally enters the wastewater system through damaged pipes and manholes or via illegal downspout connections.
The essential SCOPE-10 strategy is to find and repair the worst inflow offenders instead of all of them, Wheeler said. The project aim is to make the most efficient use of funding.