During heavy rains, storm water enters and overloads the wastewater collection system which can cause overflows of very dilute untreated wastewater to the river and other areas.  St. Marys recently entered into an agreement with Ohio EPA to address the flow capacity of our collection system and treatment plant, especially during wet weather periods.  The agreement requires the City to study, plan, finance, and complete improvements necessary to remove wet-weather sanitary sewer overflows by 2013.

Improvements that will be needed include a new wastewater treatment plant with increased flow capacity and wastewater collection system improvements that will allow the transport of more wet-weather flows for treatment and also reduce the amount of excess storm water entering the system.

One component of our agreement with Ohio EPA is a requirement that the City develop and implement a Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Response Plan.  The plan, developed by modifying existing practice, specifies activities we must take to protect human health and the environment during wet weather when overflows can occur.  The City's plan was submitted to Ohio EPA in March, 2004, and officially endorsed in June, 2004.

Another component of our agreement with Ohio EPA is a requirement that the City implement a "Capacity, Management, Operation, and Maintenance" (CMOM) program, where strategies are developed for the effective operation and maintenance of the wastewater collection system and the wastewater treatment plant.  Again, the majority of the requirements in a CMOM were already being done by the City.  The City's plan was submitted to Ohio EPA in September, 2004, and accepted by the Agency August 11, 2005.

A third component of our agreement with Ohio EPA is a requirement that the City implement a "System Evaluation and Capacity Assurance Plan" (SECAP) wherein the flow capacities of all our wastewater facilities are evaluated, recommendations for improvements to address deficiencies are made, and a schedule developed for construction.  This plan must be submitted to Ohio EPA March 7, 2006, and accepted by the Agency March 28, 2006.

The required improvements will be very important to the future of St. Marys, coming with a high price tag and taking place over the next eight years.  St. Marys City Council therefore authorized execution of a general services agreement with Arcadis FPS, a professional engineering firm based in Toledo.  The firm will guide the City as we progress through studies and planning for the required improvements.  We believe we are ahead of the game, in that treatment plant and collection system studies we have previously done will expedite studies and planning necessary for the improvements.  The following studies are currently being done:

An 8" sewer line can service the sanitary needs of as many as 456 homes.  Yet, during times of significant rainfall, that same 8" sewer line can be overloaded by only 36 homes if storm water can enter the line through improper or unauthorized connections such as inflow   (direct connections, home sump pump systems, etc.), or  infiltration (small voids in sewer lines, home laterals, and manholes).  Excess storm water causes two serious problems when it finds a way to enter sewer lines:

The City of St. Marys is committed to removing improper connections.  Here's where we need your help.  Many residents may not know if they have an improper or unauthorized storm water connection to the sanitary sewer system.  By doing a visual inspection of your residence to determine if you have an unauthorized connection, you can prevent storm water from your property from entering the sanitary system.  For help in this inspection, please refer to the link below:

Note: the above document is available in PDF format which requires the Adobe Acrobat™ reader. The reader can be downloaded at no cost from Adobe.

Send mail to dsprague@cityofstmarys.net with questions or comments about this web site.