Onondaga County' Save the Rain CSO Abatement Program's Opportunistic Approach to Stormwater Management

Since January 1999, Onondaga County, New York has been complying with an Amended Consent Judgment (ACJ) which includes control of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to the tributaries of Onondaga Lake. In November 2009, the ACJ was again amended to incorporate green infrastructure (GI) strategies to further reduce wet weather from entering the combined sewer system (CSS) along with requiring other upgrades at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant (Metro). This is the first court order in the country to require the use of GI, and the new program was named Save the Rain.Since 2009, Save the Rain has resulted in the construction of over 220 GI projects and more than 10 large-scale gray infrastructure projects. The GI projects capture over 170 million gallons of stormwater annually. Overall, the County has achieved the remarkable milestone of 97.7% CSO capture and elimination to date while also significantly improving water quality in Onondaga Lake and it's CSO-receiving tributaries at a cost of $660 million. This presentation highlights the County's opportunistic approach for managing stormwater for CSO abatement.