Allowances
Allowance projects arise due to newly discovered circumstances, opportunities, or information/analysis needs. They are typically not planned or designed years in advance; therefore, their budgets will vary from year to year. There are eight subject matter allowance programs to address, reduce, and/or eliminate overflows and improve water quality:
- Water-in-Basement Program (WIB)
- Sewer Lining (Trenchless Technology) Program
- Manhole Rehabilitation (Trenchless Technology) Program
- Rainfall Derived Infiltration and Inflow (RDI/I) Program
- Home Sewage Treatment System (HSTS) Elimination Program
- Urgent Capacity Response Program
- WWIP Progress Studies and Recreation Management
- MSD Sustainable Infrastructure (Green) Program
Water-in-Basement Program (WIB)
Remedies and solves sewage backups into basements due to sewer capacity issues. The WIB program operates clean-ups, claims, and prevention activities, customer education and communication, property acquisition, and other activities related to the administration and management of this program.
Sewer Lining (Trenchless Technology) Program
This program conducts internal lining of sewers and external lining of aerial sewers as a cost effective method of rehabilitating structurally deteriorated sewers. The program will include, but not limit itself to, spiral-wound pipe, pipe bursting, directional drilling, carbon filament wrapping, and jack and boring. These projects are identified through investigations of the sewer lines and are prioritized based on a standardized condition assessment.
Manhole Rehabilitation (Trenchless Technology) Program
This program provides a cost effective method of rehabilitating structurally deteriorated manholes. Manhole rehab projects are also identified through investigations and are prioritized based on a standardized condition assessment.
Rainfall Derived Infiltration and Inflow (RDI/I) Program
This program assists in the elimination of SSOs. RDI/I projects are identified through investigations which may use intrusive methods. Remedial projects are funded through this program or either or both of the Sewer Relining and Manhole Rehabilitati on Allowance Programs, depending on the choice of construction methods.
Home Sewage Treatment System (HSTS) Elimination Program
This program conducts the design, property acquisition, and construction of new sanitary sewers to connect properties in built up areas of the MSD service area to eliminate home sewage treatment systems. These projects improve the water quality of some MSD watersheds by replacing failing or inadequate home systems. These systems are identified and prioritized based on the public health risk.
Urgent Capacity Response Program
This program funds measures that restore sewer capacity in existing CSO communities by identifying Project Groundwork construction needed to address urgent CSO community capacity needs, WIB issues, or unpermitted flows. These projects are either accelerated from existing Wet Weather Improvement Plan schedules or were not identified as wet weather projects.
WWIP Progress Studies and Recreation Management
This allowance funds ongoing evaluation of Project Groundwork wet weather improvements and the various measures to address wet weather issues in CSO areas. Evaluations involve systematic review of the wet weather effect within watersheds, the sensitivity of various remedial projects on the system hydraulic grade lines, etc. Findings of these studies will provide clear and strategic direction to the watershed planning group. This allowance also funds recreation management notice, reporting and information needs.
MSD Sustainable Infrastructure (Green) Program
This program will use Low Impact Development Best Management Practices (LID BMP), storm water offloading through stream separation and promotion of sustainable best practices to remove storm water from sewers in both CSO and SSO areas. Program activities will initially include LID Demonstration Projects (to evaluate technologies and reduce storm water impacts to CSOs), Pilot Projects (to evaluate multiple methods in a set of multiple projects), Regional BMP Projects (larger sewershed projects expected to capture over 10 million gallons) and Large Scale Projects (long-term projects in major CSO sewersheds). These projects will be evaluated and, in some cases, prioritized on volumetric reduction of storm water from the system, and unit cost per gallon of water removed from the system. The larger, more expensive green projects will focus on projects capable of removing a minimum of 10 million gallons of storm water from the combined sewer system, at equal or lower cost than comparable "grey" infrastructure projects.