Sanitation District No. 1 (SD1) is upsizing sanitary sewer pipe near the Bentwood Hills Condominiums along Three-Mile Road in Wilder to address sanitary sewer overflows in the area.
The project, which SD1 is calling the Licking River Siphon Project, is part of SD1’s regional Clean H2O40 program, an effort to eliminate capacity-related sewer overflows by the year 2040.
The project will increase the size of existing sewer pipe in the area from 24 inches to 48 inches and move the pipe away from the creek bank. This work will eliminate existing sewer overflows and improve water quality in Three Mile Creek.
The project will connect with a 7.3-million-gallon equalization (EQ) tank built in Wilder last year to eliminate about 47 million gallons of sanitary sewer overflows. The tank–like similar tanks SD1 has built in Highland Heights and Silver Grove – uses smart-sewer management to hold system flow during wet-weather events and then slowly release the flow back into the system once a storm passes. This prevents the public sewer system from being overwhelmed during wet-weather events.
SD1 Project Manager David Gilligan said the project has presented some unique obstacles.
“This project was challenging to plan and schedule because the current and proposed new sewer alignment are located within existing conservation easements,” Gilligan said. Additional hurdles included a lengthy approval process with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior to meet demanding environmental requirements.
Because of unavoidable impacts within the conservation easements, SD1 took an innovative approach that will ultimately improve the conservation area. The District has reached an agreement with the Northern Kentucky University Research Foundation and the Home Owners Associations of Bentwood and Woodland Hills Condominiums on a number of mitigation strategies to improve the area.
Some of those strategies include creekbank and channel stabilization, native meadow seeding, reforestation with minimum five-gallon trees and shrubs, grading for a new walking path and the removal of invasive species.
SD1 will also monitor and maintain the conservation easements for five years after completion of the project.
“This is an unprecedented agreement that is a win/win for all parties involved,” Gilligan said. “SD1 is committed to engaging stakeholders across our region to understand the needs of our community. Our goal is exactly what we will achieve with this project – to accomplish our mission and benefit the community we serve.”
The Licking River Siphon pipe upsizing project began in March and is expected to last through summer 2023. The contractor is MAC Construction of New Albany, Ind.
Sanitation District No. 1
