Wet Weather Information
Wet Weather Program Management
As glaciers melted 14,000 years ago, the Wabash River's rich history was just beginning. The melting waters carved the 475 mile path of the river from eastern Ohio to the Indiana/Illinois border, and the Wabash's white limestone bottom became its namesake. French explorers named the river "Ouabache," or Wabash, after the Miami Indian word meaning "it shines white."
Today, more than 200 years later, the City of Lafayette recognizes that development still depends on the Wabash River, and the city is committed improving its water quality. To accomplish this, the city has implemented the following wet weather programs:
Stormwater Capital Program
In 2010, Lafayette will begin implementing a stormwater capital program, to address stormwater quality regulations in the city's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) Permit and to expand and improve upon existing stormwater infrastructure. The stormwater program will benefit the public in the following ways:
- Improve the quality of stormwater entering local rivers and streams
- Reduce flooding and drainage problems in the community
- Reduce basement backups during and after wet weather
- Rehabilitate existing infrastructure, which is crumbling and in need of repair
- Meet state and federal regulations
Water Pollution Control
The City of Lafayette is developing a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Long Term Control Plan to reduce raw sewage overflows and improve the water quality of the Wabash River and other local streams. The $179 million, 20 year plan, which is mandated by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will benefit Lafayette residents and businesses in the following ways:
- Reduce raw sewage overflows into the Wabash River and local streams
- Improve the health of streams for humans, fish and wildlife
- Minimize the smells and sites of pollution found in overflowing sewers
- Minimize the impacts of the plan on neighborhoods by locating overflow storage facilities underground
- Meet state and federal requirements