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"Our goal is to produce an Overflow Control Plan that is the 'right thing to do' for Kansas City. The Plan will protect public health and the environment, and meet regulations at an appropriate cost. CTE is helping us reach this goal by providing technical leadership that will lead to economical solutions."
Terry Leeds, PE
Kansas City Missouri
Water Services Department
Overflow Control Program Manager
“CTE is spearheading the technical side of this project – from sewer system modeling to evaluating wet weather solutions. Our role is to take all of the work and blend it together.”
Mike Lorenzo, PE
CTE
Kansas City CSO Project Manager
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CTE's combined sewer overflow investigators take on Missouri
When it comes to nature, too much of a good thing often creates headaches for those responsible for providing vital city services. Too much rain can overload sewer systems, discharging overflow sewage from separate and combined sewer areas into streams, rivers, and city streets –- creating potential health hazards for people and wildlife. With more than 2,600 miles of sewers within its boundaries, Kansas City, Missouri's Water Services Department decided to proactively tackle the challenges of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) head on. They selected CTE as part of their consultant team to develop a long-term control plan and implement wet-weather solutions.
Combining national experience with local expertise, CTE -- partnering with Burns & McDonnell and Limnotech -- identified nearly 100 CSO points to determine their impact on streams and rivers, while establishing the intensity level of rainstorms that trigger overflows in the first place. The team recently gathered sewer flow metering data, rainfall measurements, and water quality statistics from receiving streams to create effective sewer system and receiving water models.
Providing safe, quality water is another objective of Kansas City's long-term plan. CTE's wastewater experts are working to maximize flows to treatment plants by overhauling existing pump stations and boosting treatment capacity by removing bottlenecks from treatment trains.
Project Manager Mike Lorenzo coordinates this complex effort by managing the technical activities of eight different basin engineers who are responsible for creating wet-weather facilities practices that will ultimately merge into a cohesive city-wide plan for both CSO and SSO areas. The planning portion of the Kansas City CSO project will continue through 2007, followed by a construction program to carry out these plans.
“Because of the complexities and the long-term economic and environmental impact of this project on the community, the client requested a top technical leadership team,” says Pat Toby, associate vice president of CTE. “From our project manager to the chief technical liaison, CTE is providing the highest level of expertise to guide and manage this project. As a result, we stay focused on costs and environmental protection, and avoid the pitfalls encountered by many other communities.”
A leader in wastewater and collection system engineering, CTE has provided CSO and wet-weather solutions for cities, counties, and wastewater districts throughout the United States, including Spokane, Oakland County, Nashville, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas.
For more information about the Kansas City combined sewer overflow project, contact Project Manager Mike Lorenzo at: Mike_Lorenzo@kcmo.org.
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