Gresham Smith is excited to announce that the firm has been selected to modify 10 existing stormwater detention basins in the Willow Run Watershed to reduce sewer overflows and support Sanitation District No. 1 of Northern Kentucky (SD1) in their compliance with the Clean H2O40 program.
The firm’s detention basin design, which will be consistent across the sites for construction efficiency, will incorporate automated valves and coordinated controls to reduce the volume of combined sewer overflows and provide SD1 with greater access to the system for future maintenance. The new design will also capitalize on the basins’ underutilized storage area, which will help prevent downstream overflows in the Ohio River.
“Reducing sewer overflows is critically important to protecting the environment and maintaining healthy communities,” said Melanie Knecht, P.E., ENV SP, senior engineer at Gresham Smith. “Gresham Smith is excited to have the opportunity to continue our well-established partnership with SD1. This project will benefit the residents of Northern Kentucky for generations to come.”
SD1’s Willow Run watershed is more than 1850 acres with an estimated yearly runoff volume of 283 million gallons. The 10 detention basins currently serve 717 acres of the area and have a capacity of 43.5 million gallons. Based on the results of hydraulic modeling, retrofits to the existing detention basins, specifically focused on outlet control structures, have proven to be cost-effective and successful in reducing combined sewer overflows.
