Questions in Beachwood include Project Clean Lake, stormwater

The Sewer District’s second public rate-information meeting in Beachwood April 11 welcomed a small but engaged group of citizens. After hearing the District’s 2012 rates and affordability program proposal, questions about organization structure and current projects and programs. We’ve posted a few of the questions we received after the jump.

Copies of the presentation and display materials are posted at neorsd.org/rates.

Here are a few of the questions customers asked, and how we responded as we followed on our Twitter thread during the meeting:

Twitter thread of #neorsd search and @neorsd

@neorsd
Since #neorsd was formed in 1972, our customer base has stayed the same at 1 million. But our communities have grown from 38 to 62.
[Editor’s note: That outward migration from the city to the suburbs has nearly doubled our sewer responsibilities.]

@neorsd
1970s: 9 billion gallons of CSO went into environment. Today? 4.5 billion. #neorsd has cut that in half. Question was re: EPA regulations.
[Editor’s note: That’s per year. Project Clean Lake is our 25-year plan to reduce that number to .49 billion gallons annually.]

@neorsd
A councilwoman from Richmond Hts asked when the 1st project will start. It’s the Euclid Creek Tunnel and #neorsd will break ground April 20.

@neorsd
In the next 10 yrs, our first 3 Project Clean Lake projects will eliminate 1 billion gallons of CSO each year. #neorsd #rates2012 will help.

@neorsd
Did you know? No #neorsd contract has gone over the contracted amount in the past 3 years. Someone asked. We answered.

@neorsd
#neorsd has to answer to the USEPA & Oh EPA. An attendee asked why #rates2012 have to go up now, but we have to comply with regulations.

@neorsd
In response to another attendee’s question, there are approximately 640 #neorsd employees.

@neorsd
Businesses pay #neorsd for wastewater the same way residents do: consumption.

@neorsd
A meeting attendee just asked about the #neorsd Stormwater Management Program. Another asked about how businesses are charged.

@neorsd
The new #rates2012 structure will potentially eliminate the 1 MCF minimum charge. That’s the biggest customer complaint to #neorsd!
[Editor’s note: The minimum 1 MCF charge would be replaced by a lower quarterly base fee of $5.85 in 2012. With that, customers would begin being charged for actual consumption, which would be a benefit for customers who use less than 1 MCF per quarter.]

@neorsd
Did you know? 1 MCF = 7480 gallons. The average #neorsd customer uses 1.8 MCF per quarter.