A decree lodged in the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri requires the city to implement an Overflow Control Plan, intended to yield significant long-term benefits to public health and the environment.

The Kansas City is the most populous city in Missouri, and its sewer system is one of the largest in the United States, including more than 4,500 km of sewerage network collecting wastewater from approximately 650,000 people.

Currently, Kansas City’s overflow results in the annual discharge of 7 billion gallons of raw sewage into local streams and rivers. These overflows are in violation of the federal Clean Water Act and the terms of the city’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for operation of its sewer system.

The Overflow Control Plan is intended to increase the capacity of the system, prevent future overflows, and facilitate improvements in environmental and public health.

Article continues below…

Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division Ignacia Moreno said “The agreement prioritises neighbourhood sewer rehabilitation projects in the urban core, reducing basement and other sewer backups and thereby significantly improve public health.”

It is too early to say whether trenchless techniques will be used in the upgrades, but the project will employ ‘green’ infrastructure and technologies wherever possible.

Environmental Protection Authority Regional Administrator Karl Brooks said “This agreement charts a course for the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history, and what we believe to be one of the largest municipal green infrastructure projects undertaken anywhere in the nation.”