History
A Valuable Resource
The green rolling hills of Kentucky rise from the banks of the Ohio River, the region’s most prominent and historical waterway. The Ohio River is 981 miles long, stretching from the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River in Cairo, Illinois. The river borders six states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.

Native Americans and early settlers were the first to use the river as a transportation route. Today, more than 230 million tons of cargo — mainly coal and chemicals — are transported by barge on the Ohio River each year.

The Ohio River Basin is one of the most populated and industrialized regions in the United States, with more than 25 million people living within its watershed. The Ohio River is also a source of drinking water for thousands of communities. More than three million people in the Greater Cincinnati area alone depend on the Ohio River for drinking water. Urban and agricultural runoff, abandoned mines, industrial waste and sewage are threats to water quality in the Ohio River. Protection of this resource is vital to the environment, public health and the economy.

Before Wastewater Treatment
Until the early to mid-1900s, most towns and cities in the U.S. discharged raw sewage directly into streams, rivers, lakes or oceans. Wastewater in Northern Kentucky was discharged directly into the Ohio River or its tributaries. At the time, this method was acceptable and was less expensive than having to treat the wastewater. The practice was eventually criticized due to the degradation of local waterways, and in 1948, Congress passed its first law aimed at protecting water quality — the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Sanitation District No. 1 Established
Sanitation District No.1 (District) was established in 1946 by the Division of Sanitary Engineering of the Kentucky Department of Health pursuant to an amendment of Chapter 220 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS 220). Prior to 1946, a small system of sewer lines already existed in Northern Kentucky; however, the region was still in need of proper wastewater treatment. The amendment to KRS 220 gave the District authority to prevent and correct the pollution of streams, regulate the flow of streams for sanitary purposes, clean and improve stream channels for sanitary purposes, and collect and dispose of sewage and other liquid wastes produced throughout the established service area. It also granted the District authority to construct sewers, trunk sewers, laterals, intercepting sewers, siphons, pump stations, treatment and disposal works and other appropriate facilities. The District’s authority under KRS 220 also included maintenance and operation responsibilities of the above listed structures and facilities.

Northern Kentucky’s First Treatment Plant
The original area served by the District contained 17 municipalities and covered 25 square miles. At that time, each community had its own independent system for the collection and treatment of sewage. It was the District’s responsibility to construct a sewage treatment plant and collection system that would convey sewage from the various municipalities to a treatment facility. In 1954, after many years of planning, the District completed construction of Northern Kentucky’s first wastewater treatment plant in the City of Bromley. Serving Campbell and Kenton counties, the Bromley Wastewater Treatment Plant provided primary treatment of wastewater before discharging it to the Ohio River.

Advancement in Wastewater Treatment
The Bromley Plant eventually became outdated due to more stringent water quality regulations, advancements in wastewater technology and the area’s increasing population. In 1970, the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) adopted requirements for secondary treatment of sewage for all waters that feed into the Ohio River. In 1977, Congress passed the Clean Water Act, granting the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) authority to further regulate discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States. The original Bromley plant provided minimal treatment and would not meet the needs of these new regulatory standards. In response to the new regulations, the District constructed the Dry Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, which entered service in 1979. This project also included the construction of new interceptor sewers and pump stations. Located in Villa Hills, the treatment plant was designed to treat 30 million gallons a day (mgd). In 1993, due to the growing population of Northern Kentucky, the plant was upgraded to a design capacity of 46.5 mgd.

District’s Responsibilities Expanded
In 1994, in response to pending changes in environmental regulations and increased public interest in consolidation of services, KRS 220 was amended, allowing the District to operate sewage and drainage systems in cities located within its jurisdictional boundaries. On July 1, 1995, 28 cities in Northern Kentucky turned over ownership of their sanitary sewer systems to the District. On December 31, 1995, Boone County officially merged with the District, and subsequent to that date, the cities of Independence and Alexandria transferred ownership of their sewer lines to the District. As a result of these consolidations, the District assumed ownership and operational responsibility for approximately 900 additional miles of sanitary sewer lines and related pump stations.

Regional Storm Water Management Program
Legislation adopted in 1998 by the Kentucky General Assembly granted the District authority to regulate and finance storm water facilities within its designated service area. In response to requests from 35 Northern Kentucky communities, the District accepted the responsibility to develop and implement a regional storm water management program to comply with U.S. EPA’s 1999 Federal Storm Water Phase II Regulations. This role was formalized in 2003 through the development and adoption of Interlocal Agreements to provide Kentucky Pollutant Discharge Elimination System storm water discharge permit services and other storm water-related services in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties. As part of the Agreements, the cities and counties agreed to maintain ownership of the storm water collection systems with the understanding that the District will assume responsibility of the operation and maintenance of the public storm water systems by 2008.

Today
Today, the District is the second largest public sewer utility in Kentucky, with ownership and maintenance responsibilities for all of the sanitary sewer systems in Northern Kentucky, with the exception of Florence and Walton. The District maintains more than 1500 miles of sewer line, 123 pump stations, 15 flood pump stations, 8 package treatment plants, and one major wastewater treatment plant. The District employs more than 200 employees and serves approximately 90,000 customer accounts. Governance of the District is provided by the three Judges Executive of Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties. The Judges Executive appoint a total of eight Directors to serve a four-year staggered term on the District’s Board of Directors.

In 2004, the District opened Public Service Park at their administrative office site in Ft. Wright. Featuring environmental best management practices and formalized educational programming, the Park provides an interactive means to learn about the impacts of polluted storm water runoff. The District has also created a water-quality curriculum that is taught in nearly every elementary school in Northern Kentucky and also offers classroom presentations and tours of its treatment facility.

Planning for the Future
In October 2005, the District entered into a Consent Decree with the U.S. EPA, the Kentucky Environmental Public Protection Cabinet and the U.S. Department of Justice, requiring an estimated $880 million investment over the next 20 years to address sewage overflows in Northern Kentucky. Included in the Decree is the requirement to construct two new regional wastewater treatment plants – a 4 mgd plant in Campbell County and a 20 mgd plant in Boone County. The new plants are estimated to enter operation in 2007 and 2010 respectively. The District will be taking a watershed approach to future improvement plans that will holistically evaluate the cumulative impacts of pollution sources on receiving waters. The use of this watershed approach will lead to more rapid improvements in water quality in critical areas with more efficient and cost-effective solutions for the region.