Infrastructure Projects
Cleveland Water maintains and restores our treatment plants and distribution system through our Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Cleveland Water uses the CIP to identify its infrastructure needs, prioritize projects, and schedule them for funding and implementation through a multi-year plan. In the last 20 years, we've invested nearly $1.5 billion to modernize our treatment plants and distribution system. And we have over $700 million in capital investments planned for the next 10 years.
Treatment Plants
Cleveland Water’s Plant Enhancement Program (PEP) was a $630-million,15-year CIP effort to modernize and rebuild our four water treatment plants. As a result of the PEP, Cleveland Water has four state-of-the-art treatment plants to ensure safe water is available throughout our service area. Specific PEP projects included transitioning to a safer chlorine feed system for water disinfection, new in-line rapid mix, and installation and integration of plant-wide computer control systems and monitoring software that constantly measure and record data on over 20,000 parameters in the water treatment process. We continue to build on PEP, including investing over $70 million of funding between 2017 and 2019 in our water treatment plants.
Tanks, Towers, and Pump Stations
There is more to providing dependable water service than just being able to produce clean, safe, and healthy drinking water at our treatment plants. Our CIP also includes funding for other critical projects to the 21 water towers and tanks and 16 pump stations that keep water moving throughout our 640-square-mile service area.
Main Renewal and Replacement
With the completion of the PEP, Cleveland Water has focused CIP projects on addressing the 5,300 miles of underground pipes necessary to deliver high-quality water to over 440,000 account holders. Water mains account for 70% of the value of our water system and historically were out of sight, out of mind. Because of this inattention, replacing and rehabilitating aging water mains has become a primary focus not only here in Cleveland but nationwide. That's why Cleveland Water is investing $30 million a year in capital funds to replace and renew aging water mains throughout our service area.
Richfield Tower and Pump Station Project
Cleveland Water applied for financing from the Ohio Water Supply Revolving Loan Account (WSRLA) to fund water tower and pump station projects in the Village of Richfield. These projects are necessary to improve drinking water supply, storage, and pressure in the 3rd High service area. The estimated loan amount for the tower project is $12,000,000, with construction scheduled to begin in Summer 2022 and last approximately 24 months. The estimated loan amount for the pump station project is $5,500,000, with construction scheduled to begin in Summer 2022 and last approximately 12 months. Click here to view the Ohio EPA's Finding of No Significant Impact and Environmental Assessment for these projects.