Sewer line installation planned for Legion Park

Sep. 23—The Regional Water Resource Agency is planning sewer line installation across the northern end of Legion Park, which an RWRA official says will take acres of homes off the combined sewer system.

On Tuesday, city commissioners approved a construction easement and permanent maintenance easement to install a sanitary sewer line on the northern end of the park between Veach Road and Legion Park Boulevard.

Garrett Gordon, RWRA director of engineering, said the new sewer line will take homes off the combined sewer network, eliminate a pump station and set up future projects to eliminate combined sewer overflows.

"We are going to install along the edge a sanitary sewer network that is going to separate about nine acres of homes out of the combined sewer system," Gordon said.

The combined sewer system handles both sewage and rain water and can overflow into the river during heavy rains.

RWRA is in the midst of a 10-year CSS overflow control plan to stem discharge from the combined system into the Ohio River.

The work is part of the agency's CSO plan and is required by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Division of Water, Gordon said.

The new line will eliminate a pump station on Veach Road, and it will be large enough to handle sewage from a pump station near Williamsburg Square, Gordon said.

The project will allow RWRA to do additional work to separate the rainwater and sewage in the future.

The location of the work is away from most park activities, but the work will cross two sections of the park's walking trail, Gordon said.

"We pretty well stayed away from the dog park and playgrounds," Gordon said.

The agency plans to issue a "notice to proceed" on the work in early March.

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse