Clinton - Stormwater Utility Engineering Study

As part of their Senior Design Capstone course, Civil & Environmental Engineering students created plans for a new stormwater utility to establish an equitable system to charge customers. 

Changes in federal and state regulations are reshaping the way cities manage their stormwater and wastewater. Across the nation, cities are moving away from combined sanitary and storm sewer utility systems. These separate systems provide significant improvements to the environment and community, but the cost of separating and operating the two systems can be a burden for any sized community.

The city of Clinton has felt this financial burden in recent years and has worked to separate their storm and sanitary sewers. This process is about 85% complete and is expected to be finished within the next 15 years. However, the city is at a point where it can no longer sustainably fund these projects and operate these systems; they need to establish a separate stormwater utility fund. It is important to note that this is not an uncommon situation. Many communities are experiencing the same burdens due to aging infrastructure and additional regulatory costs.

This study seeks to estimate a budget for the new stormwater utility and establish an equitable system to charge the fees to the customers.