The Shoreline's Shore Thing

According to the EPA, there are approximately 700 communities in the United States that have combined sewer systems and experience sewer overflow discharges. The Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area is one of the many communities with an aging system in need of upgrades, and that's where Project Clean Lake comes in. The project is an ongoing, EPA-mandated, 25-year-long construction program to reduce CSOs from 4.5 billion gal/yr to less than 0.5 billion gal/yr. The $3 billion program consists of the construction of large-diameter storage/conveyance tunnels, shafts at key CSO pickup points, and underground pump stations; improvements to wastewater treatment plant capacity and treatment; and expansion of green infrastructure. The Shoreline Storage Tunnel, or SST project, is the fifth tunnel in the program to be constructed, and the third that Nicholson has been part of.