UPDATE: Sewer District assists in fish-kill investigation along Rocky River

"We’ll continue to work on this until we exhaust all our leads. We are working with other entities as well. Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, everyone is working together to try and figure this one out." Sewer District Director of Watershed Programs Frank Greenland spoke to several media outlets this afternoon regarding the ongoing investigation of the possible fish kill along a stretch of Rocky River in the Cleveland Metroparks. The District is collecting water samples to aid in the investigation.

Here are stories that ran this evening on WKYC, WEWS and FOX8. UPDATE 2012 5/1: The Strongville Post featured a story in today's edition.

PROGRESS: Collinwood paper highlights Euclid Creek Tunnel plan, resident resources

The Collinwood Observer ran a feature on our Euclid Creek Tunnel earlier this month following a pair of neighborhood meetings about the project. As promised, we previously have shared a link about the tunnel's construction along Lakeshore, but the map above is a better full-screen resolution for reference.

Columnist Nan Kennedy closed her story with important information based on residents' common concerns. You can find all of our Euclid Creek Tunnel progress updates and several photos on our blog, and more details about our 25-year Project Clean Lake effort on our website.

COMMENTS: Kind words from the classroom

We love sharing clean-water fun with students of all ages, and we're even more excited when classes share their experiences in return.

Eighth-grade teacher Rachel Smith received some of our coloring books, posters, and pencils last month, and this morning we smiled reading her email:

Thank you so much for all the wonderful classroom materials you gave me, my co-teacher, and all my students. They loved seeing the posters and getting a closer look at how everything works at a treatment plant. Many students are not capable of visualizing the amount of water that the plants treat everyday, but these materials were a great help to give them a better understanding. Now, I do not have students questioning if their water is clean or not, because they have tools to see and learn from.

I cannot express my gratitude of the gift you have given my current students and future students. I am very gratefully that you were able to put this all together for me.

Again, thank you for everything.

Rachel Smith
8th Grade Science
E.B. Frink Middle School

These materials and more are available in our Wally Warehouse, your go-to resource for sewer, water, and environmental education products from your Sewer District.

TUNNEL: I love it when a TBM comes together.

Piece by piece, the gigantic tunnel digger that will burrow the underground route for the Sewer District's Euclid Creek Tunnel is arriving on site in Cleveland.

The behemoth is known as a tunnel boring machine, or TBM, and it will take several truckloads and a few more weeks to assemble.

The photo above shows the five primary pieces of the cutterhead. They will be welded together to create a large circle which will spin at the front of the TBM and do most of the tunneling work through the rocky underground.

Here is a photo of the same unit when it was preassembled for testing in February:

 

It was disassembled for transport, shipped from overseas, and is being trucked in pieces to Cleveland. It's quite a journey, but it takes a lot of equipment to dig an 18,000-foot tunnel 200 feet underground. The Euclid Creek Tunnel is one of seven tunnels that will be constructed under our Project Clean Lake program.

We'll share more details as assembly continues into May.

Photos courtesy NEORSD Director of Engineering & Construction Kellie Rotunno.

NEWS: Appellate Court rejects stormwater-program opposition's second round of appeals

The Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth Appellate District, with jurisdiction over Cuyahoga County, today rejected a second round of appeals from groups opposing the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Stormwater Management Program. The initial appeals were dismissed March 30.

Appeals for Reconsideration were filed by both communities opposing the regional program—Beachwood, Bedford Heights, Brecksville, Cleveland Heights, Glenwillow, Independence, Lyndhurst, North Royalton, Oakwood, Olmsted Falls and Strongsville—as well as Berns, Ockner & Greenberger, LLC, a Beachwood-based law firm representing land developers.

“These appeals were premature and the Court agreed with us,” said Executive Director Julius Ciaccia. “Given the Court’s repeated affirmation of our authority to implement this program, we are eager to move forward with our plans.”

PROJECTS: Glimpse of pump station at Bratenahl site [Architect rendering]

If you're driving east on I-90 and pass the construction to your right just before the Lakeshore Boulevard exit, you'll see a clearing and a massive amount of construction. That's the site of several Sewer District projects, including a huge tunnel shaft, electrical substation, and a new pump station, all designed to help reduce pollution in Lake Erie.

The Euclid Creek Tunnel is well underway, as is the substation which will power an enormous tunnel boring machine at the site starting this summer, but the latest project to roll out is known as the Tunnel Dewatering Pump Station, shown in the renderings below.

While the building itself will be visible from I-90 traffic, the biggest parts of the construction will be hidden entirely as the pump rooms will be constructed 240 feet underground, as seen in the last rendering below.

Construction began in January and is expected to continue through 2015.

Aerial rendering facing north. I-90 is visible at the top of the image.

The pumps will be constructed about 240 feet underground. They will be used to empty three storage tunnels systems in the Easterly plant service area so the flow may be fully treated.