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RIVER ROAD CSO

River Road CSO logo
River Road CSO logo

Tomorrow’s cleaner river
starts today!

Started May 2022, River Road and its neighboring Parks and Recreation trail will be closed between Dehart Street and Happy Hollow Road as the City of West Lafayette improves our stormwater and wastewater collection system to prevent future pollution of the Wabash River.

Tomorrow’s cleaner river starts today!

Starting in May 2022, River Road and its neighboring Parks and Recreation trail will be closed between Dehart Street and Happy Hollow Road as the City of West Lafayette improves our stormwater and wastewater collection system to prevent future pollution of the Wabash River.

What is CSO?

In West Lafayette, our sewer system transports stormwater and wastewater through one system to the wastewater treatment plant.

During normal rain events with 1⁄4-inch of rainfall or more, the combined system capacity can become overwhelmed, resulting in stormwater and wastewater overflowing into the Wabash River. This is referred to as a combined sewer overflow (CSO).

By expanding our infrastructure, we can stop CSO events and improve the health of the Wabash River.

Before and after diagram of storm drain flow
Before and after diagram of storm drain flow

Protecting the Wabash

Starting in 2016, the City of West Lafayette began this three-phase project.

PHASE 1

COMPLETED 2016

Expand wastewater and stormwater capacity at River Road and State Street

PHASE 2

STARTING MAY 2022

Expand wastewater and stormwater capacity at River Road and Dehart Street

PHASE 3

STARTING SPRING 2026*

Update and expand the wastewater treatment facility for West Lafayette

*Projected date. Subject to change.

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Fast Facts

Gallon icon

1.7 million gallons

of waste water and stormwater can be stored and diverted away from the Wabash River.

Decreased overflow icon

Decrease overflows

from 30-40 each year to one every couple of years

Budget percentage icon

~50% of the budget

is covered by the American Rescue Plan

6 Purdue Bell Towers laid end-to-end

is how long the 1,000-foot holding tank buried thirty feet under River Road will be.

With just a 1/4-inch of rain,

the current sewer system can become overwhelmed, resulting in stormwater and wastewater overflowing into the Wabash River. The new system will prevent overflows in rain events with more than 2″ of rain in an hour.

Weight icon

11,000 tons

of concrete will be needed to build the new holding tank.

Olympic swimming pool icon

Three Olympic-sized swimming pools

full of contaminated water will be diverted from our river during each rain event.