MSD expansion aims to flush away sewer backups
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| Submitted photo/ A $90 million expansion project at MSD's Lemay treatment plant will help eliminate possible wastewater backups in Lemay and surrounding areas. |
Expanding the wet weather capacity of the Lemay Waste Water Treatment plant on South Broadway from 167 million gallons per day to 350 million gallons per day will help solve potential backups during heavy rains and better direct wastewater into the district's treatment system, said Jeffrey L. Theerman, executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District.
The project is part of MSD's $3.7 billion Capital Improvement and Replacement Plan. The district calls it the largest and most extensive capital program they have ever carried out and is meant to expand and rehabilitate its entire wastewater collection and treatment capabilities and to separate wastewater and storm water sewer systems entirely."As we deal with issues in the combined sewer system that flows to that plant, and the separate sewer system that flows to that plant, we'll be bringing more water there," Theerman said. "In the sewer system, we're going to be reducing or eliminating overflows and that will mean more water comes to treatment. The Lemay treatment area serves about a 40- square-mile section of combined sewer area, and that won't completely go away, but we will be trying to reduce the number and frequency of overflows in the combined system."
In a combined system, both wastewater and storm water from small storms are treated before being discharged into area waterways. During heavy storms, the storm water flow increases, overfills the sewer pipes and causes the combined sewers to overflow into area waterways.
The Lemay project will help eliminate possible street flooding and backups into homes and businesses.
"The overflows that exist in the separate systems, where you have storm water in one set of pipes and waste water in another, we need to stop those overflows," Theerman said.
Construction on the expansion began in November 2007 and is slated to be completed in April 2010, Theerman said.
"It's a good thing, obviously, to reduce overflows in the beginning of a long set of construction projects that's going to last multiple decades," Theerman said. "This doesn't get solved overnight. It took 150 years to get where we are, and this is the first big step towards dealing with overflows in that Lemay system."
Sixth District St. Louis County Councilman John Campisi said it's great news for his constituents that the plant is being expanded.
"I'm trying to work with MSD as far as trying to provide more sewers down there," Campisi said. "Their expansion would go hand in hand with that. We get reports from MSD on projects they do in Lemay and I support all the projects they want to do down there."
