INVESTING IN COLUMBUS: YOUR UTILITY RATES AT WORK

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INVESTING IN COLUMBUSYOUR UTILITY RATES AT
WORK
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Department of Public Utilities Serving You

• Providing drinking water to more than 1.1 million
  people
• Operating three 24-hour water treatment plants
• Dublin Road Water Plant
• Hap Cremean Water Plant
• Parsons Avenue Plant
• Operating two 24-hour wastewater treatment
  plants
• Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Maintaining our current sewer and water lines
• More than 6,200 miles of sanitary, storm and
  combined sewer pipes
• More than 4,200 miles of water lines
• Maintaining more than 50,000 streetlights

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What Utility Fees Provide

• Sewer, water and stormwater utility rates also
  provide funding for capital improvement projects
  that benefit Columbus neighborhoods
• Much of Columbus sewer and water infrastructure
  is old, some of it 100 years, making replacement/
  rehabilitation needs critical

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Improving Your Neighborhood, Quality of Life

• Benefits from capital
• improvements include
• Reduction of sewer backups and overflows
• Surface water quality improvement
• Replacement of aging water lines to reduce line
  breaks and improve water pressure
• Insuring adequate water supplies for a
  still-growing community
• Solving flooding issues in neighborhoods built
  without modern stormwater drainage systems
• Providing streetlights to increase safety

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2008 Bond Package Thank You!

• Voters approved Columbus Bond Package (Issues
  14-19) in November 2008
• Approval authorizes the city to borrow funds for
  capital improvement projects that benefit
  neighborhoods
• Among the six issues, one was for 552 million
  for sanitary sewer projects and another was for
  525 million for water projects
• The package allows Columbus to borrow money at a
  lower interest rate, thanks to its AAA bond
  rating
• Borrowing at a lower rate helps reduce the amount
  of water and sewer rate increases. Passage will
  save Columbus taxpayers and water/sewer
  ratepayers a total of 28 million
• Revenue from water and sewer bills pay off the
  bonds that support the capital program

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Examples of Sewer Improvements

• Sewer Rehabilitation
• through Trenchless
• Technology
• This sewer in Clintonville was relined through
  cured-in-place piping, creating a new pipe
  within a pipe
• Process has been used in many neighborhoods
  across Columbus
• It reinforces the structural integrity of the
  sewer, extends its life and helps seals out
  excess water at a lower cost than digging
  trenches and installing new pipes

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Examples of Sewer Improvements

• Sewer Tunneling
• Newer technology is being used to increase
  sanitary sewer capacity with less disruption to
  residents than the traditional open-trench method
• This tunnel was constructed in the northeast
  Franklin County area (Big Walnut Extension)

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Wet Weather Management Plan

• Our 40-Year, 2.5 billion Wet Weather Management
  Plan (WWMP) will
• Reduce sewer overflows
• Reduce basement backups
• Result in cleaner waterways
• Create jobs for construction of projects
• Plan will bring Columbus into compliance with two
  consent orders with the State of Ohio (in 2002
  for Sanitary Sewer Overflows and 2004 for
  Combined Sewer Overflows)

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WWMP Projects

• The plan includes hundreds of projects including
• Significant improvements to our two wastewater
  treatment plants that will increase treatment
  capacity by 50 by 2010, expanding from 330 to
  480 million gallons a day
• 48 neighborhood sewer projects, including Driving
  Park, Maize-Morse and Clintonville
• Projects in 12 Priority Areas
  (Barthman-Parsons Castle-Williams Cleveland
  Ave./Ferris Rd. Clintonville-Whetstone Early
  Ditch/Binns-Wicklow Miller/Kelton Ave.
  Northwest Alum Creek/Weldon-Lakeview Plum Ridge
  Preston Road Sullivant Avenue West 5th Avenue
  Winslow)
• Three large-diameter tunnels
• For more information, please visit
  utilities.columbus.gov/DOSD/CleanRivers

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Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant

• A new Headworks Facility at Southerly is among
  the WWMP improvements Mayor Coleman and City
  Council dedicated its completion in 2007
• Construction of a new Effluent Pump Station began
  in 2008

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Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant

• Improvements are also underway at the Jackson
  Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant to maximize
  treatment capability and to comply with
  ever-increasing environ-mental regulations

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Water Supply Improvements

• Projects to ensure adequate water supplies are
  underway such as this new water tower on Taylor
  Road
• Other projects planned include a new upground
  reservoir in Delaware County, which will provide
  central Ohio with a sufficient supply of drinking
  water for decades to come

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Water Distribution System Improvements

• Older water mains are being replaced to reduce
  line breaks, reduce leakage and to improve water
  pressure -- like this project in the West Broad
  Street area

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Water Treatment Plant Improvements

• Photo shows a new sodium hypochlorite facility at
  the Dublin Road Water Treatment Plant
• Other upgrades are planned for the Hap Cremean
  and Parsons Avenue water plants

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Citywide Street Lighting

• The Power Section (Division of Power and Water)
  installs and maintains streetlights in
  neighborhoods across Columbus

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Decorative Street Lighting

• More decorative streetlights such as the one
  shown in this north side community are available
  through a petition and property assessment process

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Municipal Power Upgrades

• The Division of Power and Water provides
  electricity to a limited service area including
  downtown and several surrounding neighbor-hoods
• Recent substation upgrades in the Victorian
  Village and Childrens Hospital areas

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Questions?

• To report a Columbus public utility
• service or capital improvement need
• or for more information, please call
• 311 or 645-3111

Michael B. Coleman, Mayor
Tatyana Arsh, P.E., Director