New Sewers Working to Mitigate Flooding Along Lakeshore Blvd.

On July 13, the Lakeshore Boulevard Relief Sewer and Euclid Creek Tunnel received its first sanitary sewage flows; these flows originate from homes and businesses along Lakeshore Boulevard, as well as connecting sidestreets, between Neff Road and Maplecliff Road as shown.

Residents in the area have experienced basement flooding for many years, and the Lakeshore Boulevard Relief Sewer will not only prevent combined sewer overflows (CSOs) but also provide relief to the existing sanitary sewer system and help reduce local flooding issues.

“The Lakeshore Boulevard Relief Sewer will not alleviate all basement flooding in this area, but it will help significantly,” said Doug Lopata, CSO Program Manager. “Even during heavy rains, we expect that this new infrastructure will be able to transport ‘10-year’ storms beneath Euclid Creek and into ECT.”

Lopata emphasizes the need for local infrastructure maintenance to reduce basement flooding even further. “Residents will have to work with the City of Cleveland to identify operation and maintenance issues with local sewers and laterals not owned by the Sewer District,” he said.

Flows entering the Lakeshore Boulevard Relief Sewer make their way to the Euclid Creek Tunnel, a large underground tunnel designed to hold combined sewage during rain events. From there, sewage is pumped back to the surface via the Tunnel Dewatering Pump Station, where flows are carried into the Easterly Interceptor for full treatment at the Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant.  This new system carries flows beneath Euclid Creek and into the storage tunnel, essentially disconnecting this neighborhood from the highly-fluctuating creek levels during a wet weather event.

CSO outfalls 208 and 239, located near Dorchester Drive and Euclid Creek respectively, will no longer experience any combined sewer overflows in a typical year.

In addition, a second sewer project – designed and constructed by City of Cleveland Water Pollution Control – will help alleviate flooding in the Marcella Road and East 185 Street area. Construction of this project is expected to be complete in 2021 and flows from these new sewers will also be conveyed into the Euclid Creek Tunnel.

More information about this project, including maps, is available online at neorsd.org/LBRS.