CSO Presentation

City Engineers Explain South Bend's CSO History and Plans

October 14, 2002
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Jason Durr, City Engineer, and Patrick Henthorne, Environmental Services Dept., gave a two hour presentation on combined sewer overflow issues. The engineers had a great attitude and were very informative.

In fact there is too much information to even summarize here. Look for more detailed information on our web site in the future.

The SJVGreens are researching the proposed and current city rate structure for water/sewage. The city of South Bend is negotiating with large users of city water and sewage services. The SJVGreens will monitor the negotiations and help with public input.

We also intend to consult with the Michiana Watershed and IKE on environmentally smart methods to deal with wet weather street runoff. The city engineers seemed open to greenish alternatives.

The presenters explained that public input will be part of the CSO plan. In particular residents will be asked to identify "sensitive" areas of the St. Joseph river.

Sensitive areas are portions of the river often used by people for recreation. The most sensitive places are where humans are exposed bodily to river water (swimming, wading, canoeing or rafting) in close proximity to a CSO outlet. E-coli bacteria is concentrated close to CSO outlets.