Southeast Side to Get Flooding, Sewer Relief

From: Evansville Mayors Office: More Than 2,500 on Southeast Side to Get Flooding, Sewer Relief (EVANSVILLE, IN) The largest number of people on the Citys southeast side will be affected by the storm water improvements announced today by Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. The Eastview Terrace project is moving into preliminary design phase. When complete, it will affect 2,700 people and cover more than 300 acres. The area is bound by Pollack Avenue, Boeke Road, Kathleen and Weinbach Avenues. The Evansville Storm Water Task force ranked the Eastview Terrace project second on the updated storm water master plan list. It was placed there because of the amount of damage in the area from last September’s storms. There were 18 reports of major damage to homes; several were declared complete losses. This is a new project; it was not part of the original 1997 storm water master plan. “We had many areas that were hit hard in the September floods, but when you look at the amount of damage suffered by the people in this particular area, the rains were devastating,” said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “The Task Force clearly saw a need to bring relief to Eastview Terrace, and this project will help ensure folks will have safe, clean, and dry homes in the future.” The Eastview Terrace area is currently served by a separated sewer system. Two things will happen to help alleviate the flooding and sewer issues. First, a larger storm sewer trunkline will replace the sewer currently serving this area. It will drain to an existing detention basin just northeast of the U.S. 41 and I-164 interchange. Second, a portion of the storm water runoff will be intercepted and diverted by the Cass Avenue trunkline, located along Boeke Road, which is currently under design. Runoff from Cass Avenue will go into the existing Levee Authority detention basin located on Fickas Road. When complete, the improvements will protect the area against storms equivalent to a 3-½ inch rainfall in three hours. This is the fourth and final project initially recommended by the Storm Water Task Force to move into design phase. The first was the Jeanette Cass project, followed by Southeast Brookside and Covert Avenue, and then Cass Avenue. Over the past four years, the Weinzapfel administration has spent or committed $120 million to fix Evansville’s sewer and flooding issues. This is more than the eight previous administrations combined. In 2004, Mayor Weinzapfel canceled the North Side Waste Water Treatment Plant that would have cost $63 million. Instead, those funds are being used for projects that will positively impact flooding and combined sewer overflows (CSO’s). The West Side Waste Water Treatment Plant is being expanded so its capacity will double during peak storm events. This will reduce combined sewer overflows and alleviate flooding. Through the Southeast Side Sewer Separation project, a new underground detention basin and lift station is now in place to help prevent sewer back-ups and flooding in the Lorraine Park area. A 60 million gallon storage facility for Bee Slough to capture additional storm water and combined sewer overflows is in the preliminary engineering phase. The four storm water projects, recommended by the Evansville Storm Water Task force, will cost about $54 million. They will be funded by either a sewer rate increase, creation of a storm water management district, or a combination of both. The funding of the projects will be decided once specific costs are determined. The Utility Board has approved a contract with United Consulting Engineers & Architects for preliminary design of Eastview Terrace project that is not to exceed $175,000. The cost of the overall project itself is about $6.4 million. Estimated date of completion is the fourth quarter of 2009.

Also from Evansville Mayor's Office:
Sewer Separation Project to Begin on Southeast Side

(EVANSVILLE, IN) – The project that will alleviate flooding and sewer backups on Evansville’s southeast side is moving into its final phase. Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel announced today that the Utility Board has approved a contract to begin the sewer separation process. The improvements will provide protection near the five-points intersection of Southeast Boulevard, Alvord Boulevard, Monroe Avenue, Adams Avenue and Spring Street, as well as the neighborhood bounded by Madison Avenue, Villa Drive, Ravenswood Drive, and Dexter Avenue. “The people in these neighborhoods have been watching the progress of this project unfold for a year,” said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “Now, this final stage will put in place the improvements which will prevent the unsanitary conditions that result from combination sewer back ups during heavy rains and reduce flooding.” The area is currently served by combined sewers, which carry storm water and sanitary sewage in the same pipes. Combination sewers back up when heavy rains exceed the flow capacity of the pipes. During the separation project, sanitary laterals will be removed from the existing combination sewer system. Existing laterals will drain into a new sanitary sewer system and to a lift station. The lift station will prevent future sewage back ups into the neighborhoods from the combination sewer. New inlets will be created to complete the separation when the new sanitary sewers are installed. A separate storm sewer system has been installed over the past year to collect rainfall and send it to Raccoon Ditch. The system includes the Lorraine Park detention basin and storm water pump station, the Vann Avenue trunkline, and improvements to Raccoon Ditch. These projects needed to be in place before sewer separation work could begin.