Business View Magazine | February 2019

152 opment that stymied the natural filtering of rain water through soft soils that then collected in un- derground aquifers - the frequency and volume of these combined sewer overflows (CSOs) mounted. There are two ways in which a city can stop CSOs: increase the capacity that it has to hold and process the sewage runoff, and/or cut back the volume of rainwater and stormwater that gets into the bow- els of the city's sewers, and since 1987,Akron has spent more than $390 million to improve its sewer system, including millions of dollars on engineering studies and upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant. In 2006, the city completed construction of a $23 million storage basin on Cuyahoga Street, which holds 9.5 million gallons of water and sew- age from the combined sewers until it can be safely treated when the rain event ends.This project alone accounts for 33 percent of the volume of overflows within Akron’s system. Currently, the City of Akron is under a consent de- cree promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revamp its sewer system by 2028, to stop CSOs from entering the Cuyahoga River under normal conditions.When finally completed, the project is expected to produce the greatest environmental benefits since the first Europeans AT A GLANCE AKRON, OHIO WHAT: A city of 198,000 WHERE: About 30 miles south of Cleveland WEBSITE: www.akronohio.gov