With the added responsibility, it became apparent that business as usual would be increasingly difficult. Therefore, the CWW underwent a shift in management philosophy that involved a:

systematic internal and external evaluation of its business functions; detailed strategic plan to bridge the gap between shortcomings and opportunities; development of methods to monitor progress and modify the plan if necessary; and a process to develop stakeholder involvement from the beginning, indicators of success, and program evaluation.

While CWW has had primary responsibility for CSO control since 1991, the comprehensive watershed study was approached as a partnership venture. CWW directs the watershed study decisions and process, but the project relies on the joint efforts of the:

CWW hired an engineering consultant that serves as principle investigator for both the CSO National Demonstration Project and watershed study program. A second consultant coordinates the regulatory policy issues and integration of outreach, while EPA coordinates the overall quality of the two programs. The WERF provides peer review through a technical advisory committee and disseminates the results of the innovative CSO technologies through multiple channels. University affiliates provide some monitoring services and Georgia Power controls river flows to coordinate testing. Numerous benchmarking programs are underway to quantify results and provide unique industry information. Some stress numerical benchmarks, while others measure process or business functions.

CWW has cooperated with various partners to implement public outreach and education programs on the importance of water within the community and the effects of pollution in the environment. The CSO project had a strong public input process, including workshops, public hearings, newspaper articles, water bill inserts, and 25 meetings leading up to a successful referendum vote to finance the program.

The Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, the crown jewel of the outreach initiative, provides environmental education to the general public and numerous groups. It was created on a reclaimed and restored mining and landfill site, and thereby, links information on the history of the region’s environment with teachings on responsible stewardship of the rivers and reservoirs. In cooperation with local educators, CWW also sponsors programs like Students Taking Action Towards the Environment, Partners in Education hosted by a local middle school, and the RiverKids Network.

Technical Analysis & Implementation
The CSO control project is a national demonstration program on the performance of various wet weather treatment technologies. The comprehensive watershed study is also a national program demonstrating methods for watershed monitoring and modeling.

The CSO control program was designed and built over four years. An initial step was the development of a Long-Term CSO Control Plan to optimize collection, treatment, and control of wet weather flows. The plan specified cost-effective levels of sewer separation and a strategy to consolidate 16 CSO collection points to two direct treatment facilities. Community development projects and public input were integrated into the plan including the process to investigate financing options. The Long-Term Control Plan consists of the following project stages.

Studies were conducted in 1990 to characterize the watershed and the control system and to assess the impacts of various wet weather events on the Chattahoochee River. The analysis of rainfall records, system documentation, hydraulic modeling, CSO monitoring, and water quality monitoring and assessments led to a recommendation of a control system that removed sewage debris and destroyed bacteria through disinfection.

Control alternatives were developed in 1991 involving the analysis of 44 control concepts and life cycle costs. By considering combinations of sewer separation, storage and transport, and treatment, direct treatment controls were found to be the cost-effective option.

The original area of the combined sewer system encompassed approximately 5200 acres. By way of the characterization study and cost versus benefit evaluations, it was determined that about half of the system could be economically separated into stormwater and separate wastewater flows. The resultant construction therefore eliminated all but 2600 acres of the CSO area.

Pilot studies were begun in 1991 to evaluate two types of direct treatment: a pre-sedimentation tank followed by a mixed reactor for disinfection and a vortex basin with disinfection inside the reactor. The vortex basin performed significantly better at both solids removal and disinfection. Due to limited knowledge nationwide about CSO treatment alternatives, the decision was made to conduct additional pilot studies of innovative technologies.

Out of the vortex unit pilot studies in which WERF participated and peer reviewed, several other process ideas were identified including parallel community improvements and enhancement of the vortex unit. The enhancement concept led to the construction of the Columbus Uptown Park CSO Advanced Demonstration Facility (ADF) in 1992 and its operation by 1995. The ADF has the capacity to treat 48 million gallons a day (mgd) of CSO collected from about 1000 acres of the northern portion of the CSO treatment area. It is also a full-scale research site examining innovative direct treatment technologies and control concepts including the evaluation of non-chemical Ultra Violet disinfection. The alternative technologies meet water quality criteria and are expected to result in greater savings than anticipated, an estimated $5 to $10 billion nationally. For more information on the ADF project, see the web site at www.wwetco.com. A second treatment facility, the South Commons Water Resources Facility with a 73-mgd treatment capacity, was built using knowledge gained from the Pilot Program to accommodate the southern 1600 acres of the CSO treatment area.

Both facilities were used to leverage development of dual-use community features. CWW partnered with the City of Columbus, Fort Benning and Phenix City, Alabama to implement programs like the Riverwalk, which has been described as the catalyst for a community renaissance resulting in a new Civic Center, the facilities for the Olympic Softball venue, and two major corporate centers. The South Commons facility was built in conjunction with and is adjacent to the scenic 8.2-mile Riverwalk. The trail system also accesses a two-block city park built over the Uptown Park facility, which is predominantly underground and adjacent to a corporate campus development in the downtown business district.

The CSO control program and post construction monitoring led to the development of a water quality compliance report. EPD approved the May 1997 report and a NPDES Post Phase II Permit was issued July 28, 1998.

CSO events have been monitored since the fall of 1998 demonstrating consistent compliance with water quality standards for the river. The relationships between water quality parameters and wet weather events represent the way in which stormwater pollution occurs and provide a unique and useful tool. Data on the relationships can be used for assessment evaluations, development of controls to deal with the first flush of storm events, and for baseline documentation from which watershed management measures can be compared. The study of these relationships led to interest in developing a comprehensive watershed study.

The three-year Middle Chattahoochee River Watershed Study was initiated November 1997 and is scheduled to be complete May 2000. It seeks to protect drinking water supplies and the general health of the watershed through two program components, a source water protection assessment and the development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). The watershed study is a partnership of federal and state agencies, local governments and businesses, universities, environmental organizations and the general public. It has included workshops and public participation initiated to identify pollution sources and water quality issues and to develop appropriate water quality indicators for assessing watershed health and protection.

The watershed study has transferred the CSO methodologies to estimate pollutant loading and to further examine the impact of the CSO program on the Chattahoochee River under controlled river flows and various types of treatment. It was initiated to meet a variety of objectives including:

The study data will be used to shape future water quality standards and develop monitoring, modeling, and assessment methodologies to measure the health of the watershed. Methodologies that have potential national application will be examined along with the following activities:

The source water assessment program seeks to protect community drinking water supplies from contaminants and pathogens. The assessment area includes the watersheds of drinking water supplies for Harris County that withdraws from Lake Harding, the City of Columbus’ intake at Lake Oliver and Phoenix City’s water intake on the Chattahoochee River. The program will delineate the watersheds of each drinking water intake, undertake an inventory of potential contaminant and pathogen sources, and determine the susceptibility of each drinking water supply to contamination.

The TMDL program expects to determine the assimilative capacity of the river to take on point (permitted) and nonpoint (unpermitted) source discharges. The TMDL boundary was established around the metropolitan urbanized watersheds and EPA’s BASINS II model was calibrated to establish all pollutant contributions including background, treatment plants, the CSO system, and nonpoint runoff under various size storm events. One objective of the program is to determine pollution loads from each contributing source to achieve the program goal of establishing an allocation framework that can assist the state in developing TMDLs for the watershed.

To date, the TMDL analysis shows that the CSO controls do not cause or contribute to in-stream water quality violations. Modeling has indicated that approximately 94 percent of the in-stream pollutant load originates from nonpoint sources and complete elimination of CSOs will not alter this condition. Further results show that bacteria standards were not met under low river flows but a 10 to 20 percent reduction in nonpoint contributions would result in attainment of bacteria standards under all river and runoff conditions. A final Middle Chattahoochee River Watershed Study report will describe these and other findings as well as protection strategies such as recommendations of best management practices to reduce pollutant loads.

Financial Considerations
The preliminary results of the pilot projects found that CWW’s alternative CSO technologies could save $5 to $10 billion in national support to local communities engaged in programs to eliminate CSOs. Following this review, Congress appropriated $20 million in 1993, administered through the EPA to CWW to build and test the full scale ADF research facility.

Concurrent to this award the CWW presented several financing options to citizen rate payers including increases to the:

Of these options, residents chose pursuing a seven-year one-percent local option sales tax. The referendum vote passed in 1993 with a 92 percent favorable response. CWW’s portion of the sales tax has contributed $65 million to fund capital construction costs. CWW directed $10 million of the EPA grant back to the tax payers to reduce the requirement from the sales tax so that $55 million has actually been applied to the CSO program infrastructure.

Revenue bonds were issued early in the process to acquire the short-term operating capital required until sales tax revenue began to accumulate. Operating revenue to cover the day-to-day operation of the CSO program is derived from a flat CSO fee billed to all customers on a monthly basis.

EPA awarded CWW a second grant to develop the comprehensive Middle Chattahoochee River Watershed Study, the total contribution of which was $686,000.

The total cost of the CSO control program and parallel community projects like the Riverwalk was $95 million. CWW’s total assets as of June 1998 were over $382 million, a more than $100 million increase in one year. During the same time period the operating budget reflected a $1 million decrease from the previous year’s budget of nearly $14 million due to the numerous managerial and operational improvements achieved to date. Further financial improvements are expected during the next fiscal year along with continued increases in operational capabilities and customer service.

Lessons Learned
Over its nearly 10-year effort, CWW has learned there is no easy road to success. Real water quality change requires:

Commitment and a continuous process to build momentum and are essential for success.