Carol Hufnagel is Tetra Tech’s national wet weather practice leader.
She has worked on combined sewer overflow (CSO), sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), and stormwater projects for more than 35 years.
Carol’s expertise includes CSO and SSO control planning and implementation, green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), regulatory policy, and hydraulics and hydrology. She received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan.
What are CSOs and SSOs?
A CSO is a designed release point from a combined sewer system. Combined sewers designed to carry both wastewater and stormwater were built in many areas of the United States, Canada, and other countries. Dry weather flows go to treatment plants. Excess flows from larger rain events are discharged, untreated, to the receiving waters.
An SSO occurs when a separate sanitary sewer system is overwhelmed—either by flows during wet weather or by a plug or some damage to the line—and wastewater is released to the surface waters or to the ground.
As society has placed greater value on water quality, frequent discharge of untreated flow from sewer systems is no longer considered acceptable. The question becomes to what degree these discharges must be controlled or eliminated. Standards vary by location, but general approaches are the same.
What actions are communities with combined sewers implementing?
CSOs must be reduced to protect water quality and are controlled in three primary ways. First, reducing the amount of flow entering the combined sewer system through measures such as GSI or sewer separation. Second, storing excess flow in basins, tunnels, or oversized pipelines temporarily until it can be transported to the treatment plant. Third, adding treatment capacity by expanding an existing wastewater treatment plant or using satellite treatment. In recent years, GSI has become a significant component of many programs. Municipalities seek to maximize program benefits while minimizing overall expenditures. Regardless of predominate technololgy, the best plans respond to the community’s goals and unique circumstances.
What makes control of overflows particularly challenging?
The goal of overflow control programs is to define the component plans and projects to achieve the desired performance without being overly conservative. Implementation costs are high, and many communities struggle with financing their programs. At issue is not only the initial construction cost, but also the life cycle cost and whether other benefits to the community are realized.
Attention to detail is critical in developing successful projects. Investing in data collection and site information is necessary to achieve savings in the total project cost. Project design hinges on flow quantification, in-depth understanding of how the system works, and attention to long-term operation and maintenance.
How does Tetra Tech help?
Tetra Tech always looks to optimize the selection of projects as part of a long-term control plan. We base our recommendations on the specific local conditions and work with our clients to identify the projects that will work best in the community. We balance the multiple issues that are part of program implementation—technical work, financing, regulatory issues, operations and maintenance, and public engagement.
Our understanding of critical issues comes from a strong background in successful project implementation in all phases of the project life cycle. Tetra Tech’s CSO portfolio includes more than $1 billion in implemented projects. Our experience implementing a broad range of technology types helps us find the best solution for each community’s unique situation. We have unique expertise in real-time control and GSI.
Real-time control and system optimization maximize the use of existing infrastructure, reducing the need for additional facilities and associated costs. Tetra Tech’s projects in Louisville, Kentucky, and Montreal, Quebec, demonstrate the significant cost savings that can result through effective management of existing infrastructure.
GSI results in less stormwater reaching the combined sewer system during wet weather. Many municipalities are shifting to this approach for CSO control because of the secondary quality of life benefits. It requires a range of efforts including financing programs, code and ordinance coordination, public engagement, and coordination with private property owners. Two critical questions need to be addressed—where and how to apply GSI—neither of which is easy to answer. In answering these questions, we must consider both the short- and long-term perspectives. Tetra Tech has unique capabilities in optimizing the placement of GSI—reducing its cost, addressing institutional barriers, and providing expert design. Our interdisciplinary approach has resulted in cost-effective implementation in places like Omaha, Nebraska and Detroit, Michigan.
What are the challenges associated with GSI?
GSI has gained significant interest over the past several years for CSO control. In numerous recent consent decrees, GSI has been either an exploratory or integral component of the plan. Critical questions include how GSI will perform at a sewershed scale and how it can be applied cost-effectively and implemented institutionally. Tetra Tech has worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development and with major municipalities on projects that address those questions.
Where are some places where Tetra Tech is working on CSO and SSO control programs?
Tetra Tech performed planning through construction of CSO and SSO control programs from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington, in the United States, as well as major cities in Canada and France. We have planned and implemented more than 60 wet weather facilities. We are currently working with such diverse communities as Seattle, Washington; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Houston, Texas, on their wet weather programs.
What gives Tetra Tech its expertise in addressing CSOs?
Tetra Tech is uniquely positioned to support CSO control because of our history of project implementation. Tetra Tech has been working with municipalities that are building CSO controls for more than 35 years. CSO controls were pioneered in Michigan, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. Tetra Tech’s long history in these geographies has provided our team with a wealth of experience in implementation of a mix of technologies, including retention treatment basins, sewer separation, in-system storage, and GSI. We have completed the full life cycle of projects and have the benefit of lessons learned that can be applied in subsequent projects. Working with a wide range of approaches and technologies helps us select and apply them successfully.
Hear More From Our Expert
Carol discusses the benefits of green infrastructure to communities in a video about the Viola Liuzzo Park revitalization project in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about how Tetra Tech is helping the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department integrate stormwater management into in the video below.