Stormwater Utility Accomplishments
Improved Water Quality
The City has worked hard to improve the quality of it's rivers and streams. In fact, the City has been working on environmental improvements for more than three decades. Due in large part to improvements with wastewater, the Ohio EPA has said that the Hocking River is the most improved stream section in the State of Ohio. The Stormwater Utility and the Environmental Control Department (wastewater) continue the improvement process through Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) reductions, wetlands restoration, stream improvements and stream restoration programs.
CSO Integrated Approach
The City has worked hard to improve the quality of it's rivers and streams. In fact, the City has been working on environmental improvements for more than three decades. Due in large part to improvements with wastewater, the Ohio EPA has said that the Hocking River is the most improved stream section in the State of Ohio. The Stormwater Utility and the Water Pollution Control Department (wastewater) continue the improvement process through Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) reductions, wetlands restoration, stream improvements and stream restoration programs.
NPDES Permit Compliance
City leaders and staff have always been concerned about water quality in the community. Long before the MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) regulations, the City has performed stormwater plan review, facility inspection and construction site inspection. The stormwater utility provided funds to allow for hiring a full-time inspector, an engineer and a technician that ensure permit compliance.
Through the plan review and inspection process, staff assists contractors and developers in complying with their Construction Stormwater Permit. Staff provides guidance on permit issues as well as direction when site conditions begin to fail. Staff provides support when the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) performs an on-site inspection. And, staff will not hesitate to report violations if a contractor or developer refuse to comply with the permit regulations.
Inspectors have walked every mile of the rivers and streams that flow through the City. This resulted in identifying over 600 outfall locations.
The stormwater education program involves all Lancaster City Schools and three private or parochial schools.
City staff has prepared and mailed out a variety of water quality brochures, newsletters and fact sheets covering many different topics.
Data Conversion / Geographic Information System (GIS)
Using Stormwater Utility funds, the City embarked on a major program to convert data into a digital format and to GIS based mapping. Now, the City has complete maps of the sanitary sewer and storm sewer systems, stream outfalls, sewer taps, floodplains, easements, vacated streets and easements, impervious areas, culverts and other features. All handwritten records such as tap cards, construction plans, permits, deeds and easements have been digitally scanned and indexed and are linked to the GIS image of the property making the data instantly available to stormwater staff and to other City departments. All impervious areas are reviewed annually and are updated with new aerial imagery approximately every three years.
General Fund Relief
With implementation of the Stormwater Utility, the City realized a reduction in General Fund expenses for stormwater activities and capital projects. This General Fund relief allowed the City to continue these activities during the recent economic downturn that forced General Fund department downsizing and a reduction in capital projects. Without the dedicated stormwater funding, many stormwater activites and projects would have been eliminated.
Capital Projects
Through 2013, the Stormwater Utility funded $6.8 million of 52 capital projects totalling $34 million. These projects ranged from culvert and catch basin repair to some major sewer separation and street construction projects.
Capital projects fall into several categories including; Emergency Repairs, Drainage, CSO, Street and Environmental projects. Good coordination with the Engineering and Water Pollution Control Departents have allowed the Stormwater Utility to aggressively seek grant funds by providing seed money or by funding the local grant matching portion of a project.
Several of the Stormwater Utility funded or partially funded projects are identified on the map below. Click on the button to see a summary of each project.
