March 21 – A portion of Markland Avenue will be closed to traffic for about six months starting next month as the City of Kokomo continues to build a new peak overflow treatment facility.
Markland Avenue, between Park Avenue and Millbrook Lane, will be closed to traffic starting April 3, the city announced on its Facebook page on Tuesday. The closure is expected to last about six months and is related to the construction of a new peak excess flow treatment facility under construction on the banks of Kokomo He Creek, just east of the current city wastewater treatment facility.
John Pike, head of the urban engineering department, said the crew will be installing a large pipe north of Markland Avenue from the new facility.
“The pipe is so big and so deep that it’s been closing for so long,” Pike told the Tribune in an email. is.”
A new peak excess flow treatment facility will better prevent combined sewer overflow from being dumped into Kokomo Creek during heavy rains.
Essentially, the new Peak Excess Flow Treatment Facility (PEFTF No. 2) will serve as the primary wet weather treatment facility in excess of the city’s wastewater treatment plant’s normal capacity of 40 million gallons per day. The city’s existing peak excess flow treatment facility (PEFTF No. 1) will be used to treat all excess flow from the treatment plant and PEFTF No. 2.
The new PEFTF is rated to process 50 million gallons per day.
In 2021, the Kokomo City Council authorized the issuance of municipal bonds not exceeding $24.5 million to pay for projects.
When cities and towns were first building sewerage systems, they built so-called combined sewerage systems (CSS), which carry all types of wastewater through the same pipes to treatment plants.
Problems arise when the volume of wastewater sometimes exceeds the capacity of the CSS or treatment plant, such as during heavy rains or snowmelt seasons. When this occurs, untreated stormwater and wastewater are channeled directly into nearby streams, rivers, and other bodies of water via combined sewer overflows.
This is a water pollution problem, and the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered local governments to abolish CSOs.
You can contact Tyler Juranovich at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com, or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.
