EVENT: Sewer District to solicit public input for Slavic Village project

What will "green" mean on Fleet Avenue? We'll talk about it September 11.

On Wednesday, September 11, at 6 p.m., the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District will host a meeting for Slavic Village residents and business owners to discuss a new green infrastructure project, the Fleet Avenue Green Infrastructure Project, located at the intersection of E. 53 St. and Fleet Ave. The meeting will take place at the Polish-American Cultural Center (6501 Lansing Ave., Cleveland). The Fleet Avenue Green Infrastructure Project is a component of the City of Cleveland’s Fleet Avenue Rehabilitation Project

“The Sewer District’s green infrastructure improvements on Fleet Avenue will be a win-win for us,” said Ben Campbell, Slavic Village Development. “Our community will benefit from having a new, attractive greenspace on Fleet and the environmental benefits are shared with the entire region.”

VIDEO: Is blasting like surgery? Understanding the safety, precision of controlled explosions

 

We think the comparison works best only in one direction.

If a doctor comes to you and explains his surgery is going to be like an explosion, be anxious. But when a construction manager says an explosion is going to be like surgery, that's different and definitely more comforting.

Lucky for us, Bob's the construction manager, not the surgeon.

We are using controlled blasting to excavate access shafts along our Euclid Creek Tunnel, a major piece of our Project Clean Lake program. This video was shot during a blast last week at our Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cleveland. Bob Auber explains what the shaft does, why blasting is the safest and most economical way to make our way 200 feet underground, and the precision he's seen over 25 years that made him compare the excavation to surgery.

Related: Mackenzie completes her 18,000-foot underground journey

NEWS: August 26 is our favorite day. Evah.

Photo by flickr user [xinita]

We are hereby marking our calendars for every August 26 for years to come.

Your NEORSD bloggers have learned that today, August 26, is National Dog Day, raising awareness of pet adoption and rescue efforts. At the same time, we were amazed to learn August 26 is also National Toilet Paper Day.

What a glorious combination for us, and here's why.

Our business is wastewater treatment, so obviously drawing attention to the sanitary staple that is toilet paper is of great interest to us. Secondarily, as we raise awareness of water quality and public health, pet waste has become a great carrier of our clean-water message, most notably through our Pick Up Poop! (PUP) campaign.

The fact that both topics are of national significance on the same day comes as a welcome opportunity for dialogue.

Huzzah for August 26.

NEWS: Boring hasn't been this exciting for a long time as Mackenzie breaks through

At 1:27 a.m. Wednesday, Mackenzie saw a light she hadn't seen in more than a year.

Mackenzie, the 1,500-ton tunnel boring machine drilling the three-mile-long Euclid Creek Tunnel 200 feet under Cleveland, broke through the shale at shaft 5, marking the end of her boring—but very exciting—journey.

While the tunnel boring machine is finished, the Euclid Creek Tunnel still has much work ahead. The tunnel will not be complete until 2015 as the lining and ongoing preparation is complete. When finished, the Euclid Creek Tunnel—one of seven huge Project Clean Lake tunnels—will hold 60 million gallons of sewage and stormwater and reduce pollution entering Lake Erie.

Phew. #neorsdECT pic.twitter.com/OOMfNRFmJC
— Mackenzie (@MackenzieTBM) August 22, 2013

It's official! @MackenzieTBM has completed her 3 mile journey, 200 ft underground for @neorsd's #euclidcreektunnel pic.twitter.com/UmWtJoI1ca
— Kellie Rotunno (@KellieRotunno) August 22, 2013

Video and details will be added as they become available.

LINK: What causes that after-the-rain smell? Scientists have a theory.

We open windows after a summer rain. Not only is the air cooler, it has a tangible freshness to it, a certain smell that is unique to the post-storm experience.

And scientists have theorized about where that smell comes from.

io9 says the aroma's basic ingredients are [deep breath] ozone and bacteria spores.

Ozone is made up of three oxygen atoms linked together. io9 goes on:

Ozone is sometimes used to kill off odors, especially smoky and moldy odors. The clean scent after a rainfall is partially caused by ozone cleaning away some of the scents we take for granted. Ozone also has a scent all its own. Some say it's like geraniums, but others compare it to a light bleach scent.

GIF: Animation shows before-and-after #StormwaterProgram emergency repairs

Consider this a GIFfed example of our stormwater management program in action. It’s an emergency stream-bank-repair job along Mill Creek and Warner Road from earlier this year. The bank—eroded by years of increased runoff and higher stream volumes—was graded and stabilized to ensure the roadside did not collapse into the stream.

We recently blogged about another example of regional stormwater management program success in Pepper Pike.

LIST: Back to school jitters? Here are 7 ways we totally get how you feel.

It's a crisp August morning, and that can mean only one thing: Wastewater treatment. Well maybe it means two things: Back to school, and wastewater treatment.

7 ways wastewater treatment is like the first day back to school from Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

HISTORY: No power was no problem our plants couldn't handle

"We had people showing up at the plants asking how they could help."

That's how our then Director of Operations Tim Tigue described employees' response to the great blackout of 2003 as staff was dedicated to maintaining service for customers.

During the event, we sampled water on local beaches and streams to ensure proper water quality was maintained, and emergency generator power was redirected at each facility to ensure critical processes were maintained.

Our Westerly plant shown here was without power for 15 hours, but wastewater flow was stored until it could be treated fully.

LIST: Top 5 songs for saying goodbye to a 3,000,000-pound tunnel boring machine

Have we really come to the end of the road? Boyz II Men knows how we feel.

It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

Our tunnel boring machine Mackenzie has worked her way deep into our hearts as she nears the end of her 18,000-foot road: drilling the Euclid Creek Tunnel 200 feet below Cleveland in an effort to protect our Great Lake from millions of gallons of pollution. She's leaving an amazing legacy behind her as the project nears completion.

How can you really say goodbye to that? She's not done yet, and we'll keep tweeting and updating her status in the coming weeks. But we know it's only a matter of time until the two of us part ways.

TUNNEL: Mackenzie's hitting the home stretch

A rumbling journey of more than 18,000 feet is nearing completion.

As of 9:00 this evening, the yellow box in the map above is the live location of Mackenzie, the tunnel boring machine digging our Euclid Creek Tunnel 200 feet under Cleveland. The shaft visible at the end of the blue line is where she will exit the tunnel, the corner of Nottingham and St. Clair Avenue.

Mackenzie's journey will be ending soon as she is approaching the end of her tunnel trek, a project that broke ground in 2011. The Euclid Creek Tunnel is a nearly three-mile-long 24-foot-wide sewer tunnel that will be capable of holding more than 52 million gallons of sewage and stormwater when completed.

We'll be tweeting updates and posting pics on our Facebook page as the concluding days approach.

TRAFFIC NOTICE: Sewer project to close St. Clair Avenue for 90 days starting Aug. 13

Construction of the Euclid Creek Tunnel will impact eastbound and westbound traffic along St. Clair Avenue near East 185 St. beginning next week.

St. Clair Ave. between East 185 St. and Neff Rd. will be closed to through traffic—eastbound and westbound—beginning Tuesday, August 13 for 90 days. This closure is for construction of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s Euclid Creek Tunnel.

During this closure, detours will be clearly posted by the Sewer District. However, motorists should plan on utilizing the following alternate routes:

St. Clair Eastbound Traffic:

1. North (turn left) on East 185 St.
2. East (turn right) on Villaview Rd.
3. South (turn right) on Neff Rd.
4. East (turn left) on St. Clair Ave. 

St. Clair Westbound Traffic:

1. North (turn right) on Neff Rd.
2. West (turn left) on Villaview Rd.
3. South (turn left) on East 185 St.
4. West (turn right) on St. Clair Ave.

Trucks requiring more than 13 feet of clearance must utilize East 200 St. when travelling north or south due to a low bridge crossing Neff Rd.

All businesses along St. Clair Ave. between East 185 St. and Neff Rd. will remain open and accessible to westbound traffic during the construction. Traffic accessing these businesses will be able to proceed past the “road closed” sign located at the intersection of St. Clair Ave. and Neff Rd.

TECH: If your toilet is controlled by a smart phone, it can be hacked. You've been warned.

Before we share this story, if you are a the owner of a smart toilet, you might want to sit down. Just not on the toilet.

It has been revealed that a "security flaw" in the high-tech Satis toilet—a commode capable of being controlled by your smart phone—means the toilet can be hacked.

Is nothing sacred?

It's true, this smart toilet capable of being flushed, releasing air freshener, or raising and lowering the lid from your cell phone has a vulnerability that makes it susceptible to hackers. Hackers who might want to flush it repeatedly just to raise your water bill behind your back. Or under your... other places.

While we at the Sewer District can't secure your toilet, we are committed to protecting the sewer system it's connected to. Three wastewater treatment plants and 300 miles of sewers manage your flow every day, and we take their security and that responsibility very seriously.

But if you do own a Satis, you might want to change your password just in case.

UPDATE: Photos tell the story of Pepper Pike restoration following July 20 tornado

Storm debris removed from Pepper Creek following July 20 tornado.
All photos courtesy Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

What could have amounted to months of storm clean-up for the city of Pepper Pike became a collaborative stormwater-program success story in less than two weeks.

On July 20, a tornado touched down in Pepper Pike causing extensive damage to the gymnasium at Ursuline College. In addition to wind damage, rainfall that peaked at almost one inch of rain in 15 minutes caused major debris blockages along Pepper Creek in the early morning hours.

City and District officials worked together following the storm to clear debris and restore damaged streams, examples of the first storm-response efforts of the Sewer District's Regional Stormwater Management Program.