Helping a local government handle $500-million in wastewater improvements

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government SSO Elimination Remedial Measures

The Lexington-Fayette Urban Country Government (LFUCG) looks over one of the largest populations in Kentucky. On March 14, 2008, LFUCG entered a consent decree with the US Environmental Protection Agency and Commonwealth of Kentucky. The terms obligated LFUCG to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows (SSO) and other unpermitted bypasses and discharges from the sanitary sewer system. We were brought in as part of a three-firm consultant team. The goal? To develop a $500-million capital improvement plan (CIP).

Our team’s role was to establish a level of service for LFUCG. This included evaluating the current conditions of the sewer network, performing hydraulic modeling and a capacity analyses, and determining how to best implement the CIP by creating a Remedial Measures Plan (RMP). The RMP involved engineering evaluation and conceptual design of various mitigation alternatives aimed at eliminating SSOs, such as storage tanks, relief sewers, inflow/infiltration removal, and traditional treat and transport solutions.

The result? Our plan will outline the wastewater CIP for the next 10–13 years, eliminate approximately 110 chronic SSO sources, and position LFUCG to successfully achieve their federal consent decree obligations