Fix It Cincy!

The senior management of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) has come under the microscope as of late. Many things have been alleged including mismanagement, diverting monies, poor project planning, using delaying tactics on a consent degree mandating system wide improvements and being unresponsive to environmental groups critical of outdated designs for the future. The local paper has had a series of articles on these topics and a recent internal city audit substantiated many of these concerns and raised new concerns to be investigated. The department is under a state level audit and investigation by the FBI...

As a new resident of Cincinnati it would be easy to dismiss the entire MSD for the alleged actions (or inaction) of these top managers. The MSD is actually several hundred people. From what I have seen those who are responsible for keeping the system running take that task seriously.

I recently had the opportunity to use the 'Fix it Cincy!' smartphone application for the first time. As an avid dog walker I saw a number of problems after a storm and reported clogged rainwater intakes using the app. Before I finished my walk I got a call from the MSD asking me to clarify what what happening. The MSD sent a truck out and the clogged intakes were remediated the same day as my reporting the problems.

I also reported more complex erosion problems that had been developing over time. The washouts were, in my opinion, deep enough to be safety issues. On the same call with the city I described the problems observed and was told that those issues would take some time to fix as a contractor would need to be sent out to design a repair. Within a month the two issues that required contracting were also resolved. The contractors also drove though the Sayler Park neighborhood of Cincinnati noting other items for repair and those were also addressed.

While it might seem that the repairs are 'mundane and expected' considerable effort was put in to make the work as permanent as possible. The areas were dug out, cement poured, dirt repacked, the dirt seeded and the road repaired next to the erosion. A recent letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer editor was critical of what 600 MSD employees do all day...I can say a good number are working hard.

repairs complete (click images to enlarge)

While the news regarding the senior management at the MSD is an unfolding soap opera it would be unfair to paint the entire department with the same brush. In remediation of day-to-day issues I have been very impressed with the MSD. I have never lived in a city before where reported problems got a callback within 10 minutes and would never have expected action to start the same day.

I hope the City Council takes action to get the right management in place for the MSD. The new managment will be getting a caring team that is performing well beyond expectation for what I expect the morale of the department to be given the months of critical press.

Now if we could get that combined sewer issue resolved...

A Poop Question

There is disbelief anything is 'wrong' with the water safety of the Ohio River.

The Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) monitors the Ohio River for fecal coliform and E. Coli bacteria. Fecal coliform is the stuff you flush and from farm animal waste as well. Many days the waters are considered to be within accepted limits. Other days the waters had levels many times the EPA established thresholds. The ORSANCO data is shared online and is updated weekly.

If the water is used for swimming the EPA guideline is that the level be below 400 fecal colonies coliform per 100 ml. The Ohio River is often below a count of 100 but has been as high as 7000 in the last three months. Some sections of the river trend better than others. The peak fecal colony counts and the rains go hand in hand.

11.5 Billion Gallons

Sometimes numbers are so big they become difficult to make personally meaningful. How many grains of sand in a bucket? How many stars do you see in the night sky? The annual combined sewer overflow for the Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) is one of those numbers. 

11,500,000,000 gallons of human waste contaminated rain water isn't like visualizing a single gallon of milk. A billion gallons of water is about equal to 1,500 Olympic sized swimming pools. Eleven and a half billion gallons is about equal to 17,250 Olympic sized swimming pools...none of which you would want to swim in. 

The contaminated overflow ends up in the Ohio River, the streets of Cincinnati and sometimes the basements of the residents. One recent rain storm caused nearly 200 overflows. In recent years the city of Cincinnati has documented thousands of reported overflows and acknowledges that thousands more go unreported.

I hope the informational graphic puts the problem into a context you find meaningful:

click to enlarge

Clean Enough?

The first weekend in August is many things in Cincinnati, the Ohio River Paddlefest is one of the star events. It will include over 2000 participants and looks to be one of the more enjoyable ways to use the dog days of summer. 

Paddlefest 2016 represents new event organizers, a new route from previous years and new experiences for the participants. In a Cincinnati Enquirer article an event organizer says this is an opportunity to demonstrate the Ohio River to be safer and cleaner than people believe. Being a hobbyist paddler this is exciting but also being environmentally conscious, the new event route gives me pause... 

The new route on the Ohio River overlaps a century of unfinished business for the city of Cincinnati.  The new route matches closely with a concentration of sewer overflows locations that empty, unfiltered, into the Ohio River. Being an older system these overflows mix human waste water with rainwater runoff. The Cincinnati Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) website says that 11.5 billion (11,500,000,000) gallons of human waste contaminated rainwater overflows into the Ohio River each year.

“Every year, about 11.5 billion gallons of raw sewage - mixed with stormwater - overflows from MSD's combined sewer system into local streams and rivers and also backs up into homes and businesses...”

The amount of contaminated water is difficult to visualize...picture a wall of ‘poop’ contaminated water 50 foot high, 50 foot wide and 9 miles long.

If it is dry the event will likely go as planned but a surprise heavy rain could raise 'cleanliness' questions. Project Groundwork publishes a detailed interactive map of combined (sanitary + rain) sewer overflow locations (you will need to zoom in a bit to see the features).

A higher level map of where the combined overflow locations are found along the event route:

Overflow Locations (click to enlarge)

Being a working river the Ohio is under pollution stress from a number of factors that impact the cleanliness of the water, the MSD is one among many contributors.

I hope paddlefest is safe and fun for all participants. Showcasing a 'clean' Ohio River will depend more on good weather than the organization of the event.

The situation with the MSD is complicated and court orders are present requiring the system improve and modernize. It will be 2018 before the MSD has their plan ready to respond to the court orders to improve the combined sewer system. Cincinnati is a great city and can do better than this.