Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

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Post by Coyote »

Omaha Gets State's Approval On $1.66B Sewer Plans
Project Includes 5-Mile Underground Tunnel System

KETV wrote:City officials told KETV NewsWatch 7 that they've just received a letter of final approval from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality in Lincoln. The federally-mandated effort aims to revamp much of Omaha's sewer system, including its oldest components, some of which date back to the early 20th century.

Part of the revamping will include the construction of new treatment basins, storage tanks and a 5.4-mile long "deep tunnel" system that will be put in underground along the riverfront. The city intends to complete the project by 2024.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

I like the part about my sewer bill going from $15 a month to $50 a month...
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Post by cdub »

Brad wrote:I like the part about my sewer bill going from $15 a month to $50 a month...
And yet nobody is screaming to recall Obama or the EPA.  

:D


This has a huge impact on people and they still would rather |expletive| about the Mayor spending ANY money until every pothole is completely fixed.
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Post by iamjacobm »

This is a great idea to shave some cost off this thing.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120328/NEWS01/120329758
City officials say most of the changes — wetlands, ponds and water-filtering landscapes — build upon the parks' historic role in collecting urban drainage while adding features such as fishing and picnicking.
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Post by Brad »

Not only is it cheaper, its more natural and back towards what happened before we came and paved everything and put the water in to a pipe.  If you know what you are looking for, there are rain gardens popping up all over town on private projects.  Its way cheaper to grade in a rain garden as opposed to installing a mechanical structure to clean the detain and clean the rain water.
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Post by iamjacobm »

The work at Elmwood looks pretty interesting, I have only seen it driving by.  Need to walk around and get a better look.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

Fire in the hole! City to use explosives for sewer upgrades

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130313/N ... r-upgrades
www.omaha.com wrote:Starting this afternoon, the Omaha Public Works Department will be using explosives to pave the way for sewer upgrades.
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Post by jessep28 »

City plans new water treatment plant

OMAHA, Neb. —Omaha taxpayers will pay $40 to $50 million to help build the city's newest water treatment plant.

The underground facility near 64th and Center streets will provide treatment of sewer overflow before it flows into the Little Papio Creek.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

I think they are been working on that all year.  They have installed Huge Pipes in that area recently!

There are another row of Huge Pipes along Center east of 58th now.
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Post by jessep28 »

A friend of mine and his wife own a house in that area and they've been complaining about streets to their neighborhood being closed off and on all summer.
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

jessep28 wrote:A friend of mine and his wife own a house in that area and they've been complaining about streets to their neighborhood being closed off and on all summer.
Better get use to it.  One of my co workers has had his street closed off and on since the beginning (2+ years).  He also had a sewage pump running in his front yard literally pumping |expletive| from one manhole to another manhole 24 hours a day for a month!

He said they come first and close the street to put new water and gas lines in.  They they come back later and close it again to connect those pipes to the houses.  They they come back later (may be even the next year) and replace the sewer pipes and separate the sewers.
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Post by S33 »

Brad wrote:
jessep28 wrote:A friend of mine and his wife own a house in that area and they've been complaining about streets to their neighborhood being closed off and on all summer.
Better get use to it.  One of my co workers has had his street closed off and on since the beginning (2+ years).  He also had a sewage pump running in his front yard literally pumping |expletive| from one manhole to another manhole 24 hours a day for a month!
Country Club neighborhood just south of Blondo?
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Brad
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Post by Brad »

They had it bad too, but this was over by Aksarben.
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Brad
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

Found a couple interesting things on Google Earth with Omaha's CSO project.

1. They are building a lake in the middle of the cemetery near 55th and Center Street. Hopefully they will do something like this by UNMC too.
[img]bad[/img]

2. They converted the abandoned Missouri Pacific Railroad Right-Of Way to a creek just south of Aksarben.
[img]bad[/img]

3. I haven't been to the Botanical Gardens since they did the CSO Work there, but did they build a lake there too?
[img]bad[/img]
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Brad
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

I checked out the lake on the way home, decently sized, but no water in it yet and the cemetery dumps yard waste along the edge and has keep out signs posted.

1. Here is the best photo I could get tonight.
Image

2. Here is the new creek down by the UNO Arena. There use to be a railroad line here until the early 80's
Image
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

Coming soon: new fishing pond at South Omaha’s Spring Lake Park

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/coming- ... e650f.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:The City of Omaha’s latest sewer construction project will return a body of water to South Omaha’s Spring Lake Park while removing more rainwater from the city’s dirtier sewage.

The project will create a fishing pond, fed mainly by natural springs in the park and occasionally by stormwater runoff from the park and nearby neighborhoods.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by iamjacobm »

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/omaha-m ... 5687f.html
City of Omaha residential sewer use fees would rise a total of about 45 percent over the next four years under an ordinance that Mayor Jean Stothert will send to the City Council next week.

The ordinance would set sewer rates for 2015 to 2018, with the revenue from the increases slated to repay bonds for Omaha’s $2 billion sewer overhaul.

The typical residential cost for sewer fees would increase 13 percent next year, from about $35 to about $40.

The fees then would increase 9 percent in each of the next three years through 2018, when they would reach about $51 a month for the average residential user.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Linkin5 »

45%?!!!!?!
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by lmdramos »

And Stothert's support tumbles.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by bigredmed »

Her support will fall, but not as much as it could if she does what the Tea Party found out (and was confirmed by tax people in the state and fed) and that the sewer use fee is a tax and is therefore deductable. It will still sting, just not as much. Suttle administration was given this data and the confirmation statements, and blew it off. If she picks up this ball, it might make her look better.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

Omaha is between a rock and a hard place here... Good old un-funded federal mandate.

I just wish more local companies would have got in on some of this work.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by jessep28 »

I was under the impression that this was old news. I remember seeing the sewer fees projected to rise to $50 a month or so because of this project like two years ago.

Edit: Even earlier then that. They were pinning the average at $600 a year ($50/mo) back in 2007 - http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... 980#p83980" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Jason4225 »

While the amount has been brought up in the past, people will not be happy being reminded it will raise their bills so much. It is similar to what we are doing with much of our infrastructure, not planning ahead and kicking the can down the road until it's too late and there is no money for it. Then the need for funding results in a rapid increase in rates which hits people hard. Especially citizens with tight budgets. I have not seen the details, but what happens to the rates once the bonds are paid off?
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by cdub »

I'm mostly amused by the people threatening to disconnect in favor of a well and septic. :hammer:
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Brad
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

cdub wrote:I'm mostly amused by the people threatening to disconnect in favor of a well and septic.   :hammer:
Is that even legal in the City Limits?

Not to mention that the cost of drilling a well and installing a septic system, it would probably take a decade to break even at $50 a month...
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by lmdramos »

True, but then they never have to pay a sewer bill again.
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guitarguy
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by guitarguy »

Maybe not a sewer fee but believe it or not septic tanks need to be pumped every so often.. which is easily a few years at 50 a month.. There is no way it would ever break even.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Greg S »

lmdramos wrote:And Stothert's support tumbles.
I can't believe some people. This was not her doing. We're talking a couple billion dollars on a project she inherited, that was forced on the city. I guess the numbers for the cost to the consumer came in lower than I was expecting.

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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by lmdramos »

Did I say it was her fault? No. I just said that that her support will fall because of this. It a simply fact that if someone try's to raise fees sewer fees 45% there is going to be ramifications. She should take that tax idea that someone suggested above.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by GetUrban »

Brad wrote:
cdub wrote:I'm mostly amused by the people threatening to disconnect in favor of a well and septic.   :hammer:
Is that even legal in the City Limits?

Not to mention that the cost of drilling a well and installing a septic system, it would probably take a decade to break even at $50 a month...

Depends on zoning in the neighborhood, but typically I believe you would need over an acre lot for septic to be allowed. It's probably not allowed if sewer hookup is available. You'd just need a septic tank and leach field sized for the soil type.

Anyway, I think 50 bucks/mo. is worth it to have a cleaner river. It's too bad it took this long to separate all of the storm sewers from sanitary. Would have been cheaper to do it gradually as the city grew, rather than over a few years.
He said "They are some big, ugly red brick buildings"
...and then they were gone.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by bigredmed »

.


Anyway, I think 50 bucks/mo. is worth it to have a cleaner river. It's too bad it took this long to separate all of the storm sewers from sanitary. Would have been cheaper to do it gradually as the city grew, rather than over a few years.
The nagging thing about this is that the basic survey maps of this system were drawn by the crew that my dad worked on in the early 1950's. They were going to pay for it by a $0.25 per head tax on cattle and hogs in the stockyards and a small tax on businesses and homeowners. The powers that be got it squashed till this day, and now we are stuck with the multibillion dollar mess we have. I wished I had been there, when my dad first saw his initials on the map.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Greg S »

lmdramos wrote:Did I say it was her fault? No. I just said that that her support will fall because of this. It a simply fact that if someone try's to raise fees sewer fees 45% there is going to be ramifications. She should take that tax idea that someone suggested above.
I never said you said it was her fault. I just question anyone who changes their approval of her based on this. One way or the other we are going to pay for this, and it was something she inherited.

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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

2 rain garden workshops planned for Omaha area

http://www.omaha.com/living/rain-garden ... b2370.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nancy Gaarder / World-Herald staff writer wrote:Rain gardens are landscaped areas designed to hold and slow storm runoff.
Nancy Gaarder / World-Herald staff writer wrote:The workshops are part of a project to create five street-side rain gardens in the Saddle Hills neighborhood.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Coyote »

$900k project at 5600 S 10th...
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

The new "Spring Lake" in Spring Lake Park looks to be nearly complete. This small lake and adjacent rain gardens are part of the CSO project (Clean Solutions Omaha). Looking good. I wish they would build a few more of these projects, it would really help places like saddle creek.

1.
Image
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by Brad »

Inside tunnel for new Omaha sewage pipe, machine gets stuck behind watery gravel and rocks, costing city an extra $2.75 million


http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/inside- ... d9efc.html
By Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:A tunnel boring machine working in limestone 70 feet underground between downtown Omaha’s Heartland of America Park and the Missouri River is stuck. The machine was drilling a tunnel for a new sewage pipe when it ran into unexpected veins of watery gravel and boulders and had to stop, 900 feet from its destination near the park’s pedestrian bridge.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by choke »

Brad wrote:Inside tunnel for new Omaha sewage pipe, machine gets stuck behind watery gravel and rocks, costing city an extra $2.75 million


http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/inside- ... d9efc.html
By Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:A tunnel boring machine working in limestone 70 feet underground between downtown Omaha’s Heartland of America Park and the Missouri River is stuck. The machine was drilling a tunnel for a new sewage pipe when it ran into unexpected veins of watery gravel and boulders and had to stop, 900 feet from its destination near the park’s pedestrian bridge.
Not having reverse cost the city a lot of money. Wonder why they can't come in from the other side?
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by bigredmed »

choke wrote:
Brad wrote:Inside tunnel for new Omaha sewage pipe, machine gets stuck behind watery gravel and rocks, costing city an extra $2.75 million


http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/inside- ... d9efc.html
By Christopher Burbach / World-Herald staff writer wrote:A tunnel boring machine working in limestone 70 feet underground between downtown Omaha’s Heartland of America Park and the Missouri River is stuck. The machine was drilling a tunnel for a new sewage pipe when it ran into unexpected veins of watery gravel and boulders and had to stop, 900 feet from its destination near the park’s pedestrian bridge.
Not having reverse cost the city a lot of money. Wonder why they can't come in from the other side?
How close is the other side to the Missouri river or the UPRR? They may not have room to get a device down there. Also, this would require pretty serious survey work to avoid missing the existing tunnel.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by choke »

bigredmed wrote:
choke wrote:
Not having reverse cost the city a lot of money. Wonder why they can't come in from the other side?
How close is the other side to the Missouri river or the UPRR? They may not have room to get a device down there. Also, this would require pretty serious survey work to avoid missing the existing tunnel.
I had thought about where the other side might be but I didn't think about being able to meet the other side. Good point.
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Re: Official: The Multi Billion Dollar Omaha Utility Project

Post by iamjacobm »

Not Omaha, but Sarpy County has their own sewer issue to deal with if they want to continue growing south.

http://www.ketv.com/article/unicorn-fra ... ew/9528145
State senators advanced a bill Thursday many hope will improve a plumbing problem in Sarpy County. Some say without a proposed sewer project, development in the fastest-growing county in the state will come to a halt.

The county's sewer system is divided by a ridgeline. Everything north of that line flows to the Missouri River and works just fine. However, it's south of the line that has problems.

About 65 percent of the land in Sarpy County falls south of the ridgeline. It's ripe for growth, but sitting idle thanks to the sewer system, or lack there of.

"With the ridgeline where it is currently, everything to the south will be flowing to the Platte River and there are no waste water treatment plants along that side," said Dennis Wilson, Sarpy County engineer.
Leaders are hopeful a new sewer system will spur development, creating more than 18,000 jobs and generating more than $100 million in tax revenue for the state, Sarpy County and the cities in the county.

"Without having that sewer infrastructure in place, it's really the road block to be able to do that development," Albers said.

"This is well past due," Wilson said.

Crawford's bill still has to pass two more rounds of votes before it goes to the governor's desk.

If approved, Wilson said, construction on the sewer system could start in 2-3 years.

City leaders say the sewer project is projected to cost $220 million. Albers said the cities and county would look to developers and user fees to pay for the project. A tax levy could cover any additional shortfalls.
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