MSD: Addressing Problems of the Past and Looking to the Future
Many of the changes made to our waterways in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries caused some new issues related to wastewater. So, in 1946, the city of Louisville created the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) to make sure the city had quality infrastructure to handle these issues.
In 1958, the Morris Forman Water Quality Treatment Center began operation. This was a major advancement for Louisville, as this was the city’s first sewage treatment plant and would treat sewage before it flowed to the Ohio River. The Ohio River Interceptor—a large sewer pipe that collects waste from smaller sewer lines—was also built by MSD in the 1950s to carry the city’s wastewater to the treatment center.
By 1987, MSD’s role in the community expanded to include management of stormwater, flood protection, and drainage bringing the responsibility for these interconnected issues under one roof. Since it was started, MSD has been committed to finding solutions that keep in mind the delicate balance that is needed for the well-being of the entire ecosystem, even with a growing population and changing demands on the watershed.
- Watershed Master Plan
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In 1988, MSD created the first Watershed Master Plan, as part of the Stormwater Drainage Master Plan, to help effectively manage stormwater drainage in Louisville and Jefferson County. Plan maps were created to better understand drainage, soils, the floodplain and land use. As part of this drainage solution, MSD also began monitoring the water quality of local streams, which also contributes to the quality of our waterways.
- Sanitary Sewer Expansion Program
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Also in the 1980s, MSD started a Sanitary Sewer Expansion Program with the goal of closing the many “package” treatment centers in Jefferson County. By eliminating more than 300 small treatment plants and thousands of individual septic tank systems, MSD was able to improve efficiency, enhance environmental protection and ensure more consistent and reliable treatment of wastewater.
- Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System
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Stemming from the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program was developed in 1994 to maintain and improve stormwater quality in Jefferson County’s creeks, streams and waterways. The MS4 program helps keep our rivers and streams clean by reducing pollution from point sources and non-point sources. MSD works with several groups in Jefferson County, focusing on things like finding pollution sources, managing construction site runoff and teaching the public how to help.
- Long Term Monitoring Network
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MSD, in cooperation with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), operates a Long Term Monitoring Network (LTMN) to collect physical, chemical and biological data about streams in the Louisville Metro area. The LTMN was introduced as part of the MS4 permit in 1999 and consists of 27 sites. The continuous collection of water quality data is crucial for understanding the stream conditions and responding quickly when anomalies occur to protect our waterways from further harm. LTMN data is reported on in the State of the Streams report which is published once every MS4 permit cycle or every five years. To learn more about water quality monitoring, visit the Monitoring webpage of our website.
- Floodplain Ordinance
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Because Louisville was built along the Ohio River, with numerous streams and creeks in the city, a floodplain ordinance was implemented in 1997. This ordinance:
- regulates construction and development so buildings are protected from potential flood damage,
- restricts uses that are dangerous to health and safety,
- protects natural floodplains and stream channels by not allowing streams to be moved or reshaped, and by regulating stream buffers, which keep trees and other plants near streams to add more protection to the waterways,
- includes floodplain storage compensation requirements, which means if someone wants to fill in land in a floodplain, they need to dig out or make space somewhere else in the same area to hold the flood water when there’s a flood, and
- complements the Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (EPSC) ordinance that was adopted in 1990, which provides best practices for reducing sediment runoff from construction sites and other locations.
- Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Ordinance
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In 1997, MSD and the Jefferson County Department of Planning and Environmental Management (DPEM) formed a diverse citizen’s advisory committee to develop the Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control (EPSC) Ordinance. The EPSC ordinance was adopted by the Jefferson County Fiscal Court on November 21, 2000. This ordinance aims to conserve, preserve and enhance the natural resources of Jefferson County by controlling the adverse impacts and offsite degradation of soil erosion and sedimentation arising from land disturbing activities.
This ordinance:
- is applicable to all land disturbing activities in Jefferson County, including single family, commercial, residential, and utility construction
- requires that all EPSC measures be designed and installed to accomplish an 80% design removal efficiency goal for total suspended solids
- requires that all EPSC measures are inspected every 7 calendar days and within 24 hours of each storm event that produces 0.5 inches or more of precipitation
- Consent Decree
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The latest efforts by MSD to enhance stormwater and wastewater management originate from a 2005 consent decree, an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Under this agreement—as well as two amendments, one in 2009 and one in 2021—MSD has initiated major infrastructure upgrades, targeting longstanding stormwater and wastewater challenges that started many decades ago. (See MSD’s Project WIN website for more details.) Under the consent decree, MSD is actively improving our stormwater and wastewater systems in several key ways.
- In the older parts of the city (mostly inside the Watterson Expressway), the pipes for stormwater and wastewater are combined. This is called a Combined Sewer System. So, when it rains a lot, some of the pipes can get too full, and wastewater can spill over into rivers or streams before it has a chance to be treated. Under the consent decree, MSD has implemented a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) policy, to reduce the number of these “overflows” so water has a chance to be treated. The Waterway Protection Tunnel is the largest of many basins that MSD has built for this purpose, preventing 439 million gallons of overflow in a typical year.
- Another effort to reduce CSOs is the implementation of Nine Minimum Controls (NMCs), which are nine best practices used to optimize existing sewer system operations with a minimum of technology use and construction expense.
- In the newer part of the city (mostly outside of the Watterson Expressway), the wastewater system is separate (Sanitary Sewer Systems) from the stormwater system (Separate Storm Sewer Systems). However, some of the Sanitary Sewers have historically also had overflows. MSD is working to mitigate all of these.
- The consent decree projects also include significant upgrades to the Morris Forman Water Quality Treatment Center, the Paddy’s Run Pump Station and large sewer lines throughout the city.
For an in-depth chronicle of MSD’s beginnings and growth, check out MSD’s history page.
