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.
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.
Protecting the Wabash
Starting in 2016, the City of West Lafayette began this three-phase project.
PHASE 1
COMPLETED 2016
PHASE 2
STARTING MAY 2022
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
1.7 million gallons
of waste water and stormwater can be stored and diverted away from the Wabash River.
Decrease overflows
from 30-40 each year to one every couple of years
~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.
11,000 tons
of concrete will be needed to build the new holding tank.
Three Olympic-sized swimming pools
full of contaminated water will be diverted from our river during each rain event.