Northern Kentucky's Sanitation District 1 (SD1) is pumping nearly $1 billion into its infrastructure over the next 20 years to help prevent flooding that has historically affected many neighborhoods throughout Northern Kentucky.
"Flooding for us has been somewhat semi-annual," said Joe Pelle, who lives in Silver Grove. "We had the 1997 event, that was catastrophic."
Pelle said since then the biggest issues homeowners in his area have is flooding in basement from storm water.
Chris Cole, director of enterprise communications for SD1, said the sanitation company has shifted strategies to address areas that experience flooding, particularly by putting equalization tanks that collect storm water in strategic areas throughout the region.
When the rain is over, SD1 can release the water collected in those tanks so it doesn't become a burden on the sewer system.
"I'm ecstatic that SD1 has taken us under their wing to try to address issues we brought forth," said Pelle. "The tank projects are definitely going to address a lot of issues. Now that water can be stored and won't be in people's basements."
The tanks will be installed all over Northern Kentucky, starting with Silver Grove, Highland Heights and Wilder.
Cole said it's part of the Clean H2O40 plan, a 20-year commitment to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows.
"It's less worry, yes," said Cole. "We don't make false promises. There's no way that we can build a system to eliminate the worry of a basement backup, that can eliminate the worry of flooding. We're trying to build a system that can handle the typical year stuff."
Pelle said he's looking forward to seeing how the changes impact their neighborhood in the spring months.
