On September 23, the Ohio EPA held a public hearing on the Columbus Wet Weather Management Plan at the Sierra Club’s request. We filled the room with at least 25 participants, many asking important questions and engaging in lively discussion about the City’s sewer plans. The $2.5 billion plan includes massive conveyance tunnels, underground storage tanks, and improvements at the two wastewater treatment plants in order to significantly reduce sewer discharges into homes, rivers and neighborhoods.

At the hearing, Sierra Club volunteers contributed their questions and provided oral testimony. Several local organizations were also represented in the room, including Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed (FLOW), Friends of Alum Creek and Tributaries (FACT), Friends of Big Walnut Creek, Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District, Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) and Ohio Environmental Council (OEC). An overwhelming majority of participants at the hearing echoed our request for green infrastructure solutions, which addresses the root cause of wet weather sewer overflows by preventing stormwater from entering storm sewers and sanitary sewers.

The Columbus Dispatch recently reported on the Sierra Club’s request for Columbus to finish sewer improvements before their 40 year deadline. We believe the Ohio EPA’s request for more rate analysis to consider quicker results is fair and we encourage regular rate analysis as economic times do change. The Sierra Club supports efforts to secure more federal funding for water infrastructure. It’s also critical that we minimize the financial burdens and health threats for Central Ohio residents who suffer from sewer backups in their homes, and that we take actions to reduce the sewer overflows into neighborhoods and rivers right away.

There are lower cost and more immediate measures we can take to minimize the stormwater that is largely responsible for sewer overflows. For example, rain gardens (disconnecting a downspout into vegetated area), permeable pavement, rain barrels, green rooftops, wetlands, and native vegetation are all effective in capturing and absorbing the precipitation that triggers combined sewer overflows. Rain barrels collect a part of downspout discharge and have the added advantage of saving water for use in watering plants.

When combined sewers get overloaded with rain water, that water mixes with raw sewage and spews into the Olentangy River, Scioto River and Alum Creek. Public health, wildlife and water quality are threatened by bacteria, viruses and other nasty contaminants as a result.

The Central Ohio Sierra Club supports the City of Columbus Bond Issue #18 on the November ballot for $552 million in sewer upgrades. The bond will allow the city to borrow at a low interest rate. The bond issue language states that money can be spent on wetlands, bioswales, rain gardens and vegetated rooftops. We think this is a step in the right direction and we encourage the City to present a comprehensive plan.

Wet weather is responsible for most of the sewer discharges in Central Ohio. We live in an urban area where streets, parking lots and rooftops increase runoff into sewers and waterways. Why not manage wet weather at the source before it has the chance to enter sewers and pollute rivers and neighborhoods? The Sierra Club and our partners believe that green infrastructure needs to be part of the Wet Weather Management Plan implementation. We can all play a role to reduce pollution from runoff.