Kansas City — Balancing Green Infrastructure with Traditional Approaches for CSO Control

The City of Kansas City Missouri is perfectly positioned for demonstrating the use and effectiveness of applying green infrastructure for combined sewer overflow (CSO) control. The Kansas City Water Services Department (WSD) provides wastewater collection and treatment for approximately 650,000 people, located within the City and in 27 tributary or "satellite" communities. Approximately 56 square miles within Kansas City, south of the Missouri River, are served by combined sewers. The City's combined sewers overflow to a number of receiving streams, including the Kansas River, the Missouri River, the Blue River and Brush Creek. Kansas City has also suffered from severe flooding issues. Lives have been lost and significant property damage has occurred as a result of flooding, in large part due to substantial increases in stormwater runoff from ever-increasing impervious surfaces. Kansas City's WSD has conducted extensive modeling and economic studies of its combined sewer system over the last 5 years, in preparation for submittal of its long term control plan to EPA, in January 2009. These studies and recent funding opportunities have provided the impetus for selection of Kansas City as a case study location to demonstrate the efficacy and sustainability of green infrastructure approaches in an urban-core neighborhood served by a combined sewer system. The intent of this project is to compile data and demonstrate the water quality and quantity results from larger scale application of LID or micro-BMP retrofits in a subcatchment.