Emily Yager – Summit City Observer

Written by: Rachel Abraham, Kristine Lindal, Ali Rairigh, Emily Yager

Fort Wayne, Ind.—City Utilities will begin construction of the $240 million Three Rivers Protection and Overflow Reduction Tunnel project in 2017, according to Kelly Bajic, city utilities professional engineer, to reduce the amount of sewage discharged into the St. Marys and Maumee Rivers during storms.

According to a city 3RPORT and Tunnel Works release, the project responds to a federal mandate for the city to reduce combined sewer overflow from 100 billion to 100 million gallons by 2025.

Matthew Wirtz, deputy director of engineering for the city, said during heavy storms, the sewage system overflows and raw sewage mixed with rainwater flows into the river.

According to Bajic, the tunnel will have a capacity of 31 million gallons, although it will primarily be used for conveyance and not storage.

Wirtz said once the tunnel is constructed, the majority of the flow currently discharging into the river will drop into the tunnel.

The 5-mile tunnel will begin south of Foster Park and run to the existing sewage treatment plant on the Maumee River. According to Wirtz, they will drill 150 to 250 feet into the bedrock where the tunnel will run underneath downtown and around Foster Park. The tunnel will convey flows to the wet weather ponds located north of the Water Pollution Control Facility, according to Bajic.

Wirtz said the construction will take 4 to 5 years because they will have to bore the hole underground, come to the surface and connect the existing sewers.

According to Bajic, 13 drop shafts will be constructed to convey the flow from the near surface sewers down into the tunnel.

“The tunnel itself will be done in a few years, but then getting all the rest of that stuff done will take a couple more,” Wirtz said.

Robert Gillespie, associate professor of biology at IPFW, said he and a team of students have been helping the city monitor river water quality during intense events. According to Gillespie, there are some great students who are eager to work on the tunnel project, helping the city accomplish what they couldn’t do on their own.

Gillespie said once the tunnel is completed positive impacts on water quality could be seen after only one season.

Wirtz said in addition to improving river water quality, the tunnel will reduce street and basement flooding and help move water from homes to the treatment plant faster.

“We’ll still have problems in really large storms, but the more normal, small storms will provide much better protection,” Wirtz said.

“It’s trying to fix something that’s been a problem not only in our community but in a lot of midwest communities,” Bajic said. “There’s a lot of different communities that have combined sewer systems, so it’s not just Fort Wayne.”

According to Bajic, the project is currently in the design phase and the next step for the project is getting documents ready for the bidding process by the end of Fall 2016.

Written by: Rachel Abraham, Alexandria Rairigh, Jeran Lantz-Robbins, Charlotte Stefanski, Emily Yager

African Student Association received $55 more than requested from the IPFW Student Senate, but according to James Hoppes, the legislative committee chair, the senate encourages organizations to get outside funding.

Eseosa Igbinijesu, African student association treasurer, and Emmanuel Okendu, African student association vice president, requested $245 to fund “A Taste of Africa,” an event which will showcase foods from Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, and the Republic of Congo.

During the senate meeting, Bradley Crowe, the ways and means chair, asked if the amount was enough to fund an event expecting 50 to 100 attendees.

Student senator Logan Torres moved to amend the bill to $300, which student senator Kate Keil said she found frustrating. “We’re not there to amend things to give more money to people that haven’t requested more,” Keil said.

But Keil said she revised her position on the amended bill because it helped the association.

The senate passed the bill and amendment to increase the amount to $300, unanimously.

Student senator Andrew Kreager said while it’s not common for the senate to give organizations more money than they request, he does agree with the senate’s decision.

“If we think something needs to be more funded so that it is a successful event, we should do that,” Kreager said. “That is our part as senators representing the student body to make sure that things are successful.”

Igbinijesu said their organization would not have been able to hold the event without receiving funds from the senate.

“We’re really new so we tried to collect membership fees, but it would not have covered this at all,” she said.

According to Hoppes, student organizations are encouraged to seek funding from outside sources other than just student government.

“We don’t have enough money to fund everybody,” Hoppes said.

Hoppes said the senate would like to fully fund students, but they also want to spread the money out.

Mitchell Olney, president of the rugby club, said he received funding from businesses before going in front of the student senate. He said this helped the rugby club’s case.

“They liked that we were self-sufficient and that we could generate our own funds,” Olney said, “and that we weren’t just coming to them and asking for charity.”

Anthropology club treasurer, Mike Plasterer, said his organization had already raised $150 through donations when he presented to the senate. “I think that definitely gave us brownie points from them,” Plasterer said.

According to Kelsie Gillig, president of the anthropology club, the process of requesting funds from the senate was fairly straightforward.

“Everyone has the same process to go through,” Plasterer said. “Everyone has the same opportunity to get the funds.”

“If there’s a group of students who wants to have a pogo stick competition on campus, it’s not my job to judge whether or not I would do pogo-sticking,” Crowe said. “It’s something they want to do. Therefore, we should be able to help them in that endeavor.”

Kreager said he hopes “A Taste of Africa” gets 100 attendees and the organization is able to engage students in what they are eating and gain an insight into African culture.

“A Taste of Africa” will be held Dec. 2 at noon in the Walb International Ballroom.

Tag: Emily Yager

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