STRATEGY 5: Determine If Applied Efforts Achieve The CSSOP's Goal

City Utilities' current efforts must be evaluated to determine if the overall goals of the Combined Sewer System Operational Plan are being met or if activities are inadequate. More data is needed to determine water quality, CSO contributions or needed CSO controls.

In order to meet the requirements of federal CSO policies and determine how effective current programs are, an extensive river water sampling and monitoring program will be implemented. The objectives of this testing program are:

• Know what the water quality of the St. Joseph River, St. Mary's River, and Maumee River is coming into and leaving Fort Wayne's combined sewer area

• If detrimental impacts continue to be observed: know the impacts on the receiving stream's water quality as a result of CSO occurrences during and following wet-weather events

To establish the quality of river water and to analyze the impact of CSOs Fort Wayne's rivers and streams, City Utilities will develop and complete a Stream Reach Characterization and Evaluation Report (SRCER). The overall purpose of the SRCER is to characterize river water conditions and to determine the effectiveness of City Utilities' programs in abating CSO impacts and the need for other, long-term controls

By comparing the results of river water samples taken during dry weather and samples taken during wet-weather when CSOs are overflowing, the SRCER will be able to describe the dose-response relationship between rain and overflows. In other words, the study will help City Utilities determine how much rain would have to fall over what period of time to activate any CSOs. An Impact Characterization Study will be used to determine whether, and to what extent, CSOs make the quality of Fort Wayne rivers worse (this is known as degradation). If degradation is prevalent, then the sources of degradation, including CSOs, will be identified. A Long-Term Control Plan will be developed to address CSO impacts, if any are found. These could range from the continued implementation of technology-based controls to capital intensive system corrections. Parameters for long-term river and CSO sampling will be determined based the results of the Characterization studies.