NEWS: $7.2 million to improve water quality by supporting local infrastructure investments

New program to fund community sewer projects that impact public health, environment

@neorsd file photo

Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District Trustees recently awarded $7.2 million to 12 communities as part of the agency’s newly-launched Member Community Infrastructure Program (MCIP).

The MCIP assists communities with local infrastructure improvements — including new sewer infrastructure, repairs to reduce infiltration and inflow (leaking pipes) and remove failing septic systems from the environment — to improve the region’s water quality, public health and the environment.

The Sewer District continues to invest billions of dollars into large, regional infrastructure projects such as Project Clean Lake, the 25-year capital program to drastically reduce the amount of combined sewage entering local waterways during heavy rains. In addition to Project Clean Lake, the Sewer District is also investing in new relief sewers, making improvements to existing interceptor sewers and solving stormwater problems that not only cause flooding and streambank erosion, but negatively impact water quality.

"The projects we are funding through the Member Community Infrastructure Program will address impacts to human health and the environment from aging local sewer infrastructure,” said Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Deputy Director of Watershed Programs. “We are very pleased to partner with these communities to move these great projects forward."