Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Monitoring Plan for Omaha

Wastewater effluent and storm water runoff have suspected impact on the water quality of receiving waters in the Omaha metropolitan area. Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) contribute wastewater effluent to receiving water in the Omaha area during periods of high precipitation that results in large urban runoff. The receiving water bodies provide recreational and wildlife habitat throughout the urban area. Potential deleterious water-quality effects of discharging wastewater influent into streams and rivers include increased sediment concentrations, increased pathogen concentrations, decreased dissolved oxygen levels, and increased concentrations of wastewater-derived organic compounds in the stream. These contaminants have been shown to have potentially toxic, carcinogenic, and/or endocrine-disrupting consequences on organisms in the stream ecosystem. As urbanization proceeds downstream, additional demands will be placed on the receiving waters and the adjacent lands in the system. The watersheds of concern are the Papillion Creek watershed with its tributaries Cole Creek, Little Papillion Creek, Big Papillion Creek, and the Missouri River reach adjacent to Omaha. (view detailed map of study area).

The City of Omaha has requested that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Nebraska Water Science Center participate in a CSO monitoring project. This CSO monitoring project will: 1. Provide water quality data that can be used as part of the City of Omaha’s Long Term Control Plan, specifically in the evaluation of control alternatives. 2. Measure hydrologic and water-quality data on an ongoing basis to determine the effects of the CSO controls. 3. Assess the attainment of water-quality standards for pollutants of concern. 4. Characterize the baseline conditions of the streams during wet and dry weather conditions.

The USGS Nebraska Water Science Center, in cooperation with the City of Omaha, will participate in the CSO monitoring project by monitoring the water quality and quantity at 11 CSO-monitoring locations, two stormwater-outfall locations, 11 Papillion Creek Basin stream locations, and three Missouri River locations. The USGS will collect streamflow data at the stream and river locations and water-quality data at all of these locations. Streamflow data will be transmitted on a near real-time basis to the world-wide web via satellite for the 11 stream and three river locations, and selected water quality parameters (water temperature, dissolved oxygen, specific conductivity, pH, and turbidity) will also be transmitted in near real-time for three sites on the Missouri River basin and four sites in the Papillion Creek basin. Two sets of water-quality samples will be collected monthly: once on a scheduled date (at the stream and river locations) and once during storm-induced CSO overflow events (at all 27 locations). At all but the three Missouri River locations, automatic samplers will be used to collect water-quality samples. Samples from the Missouri River will be collected manually by USGS personnel. These data will be used to characterize the effect that CSO discharges presently have on water quality in their receiving streams. In the future, a private contractor for the City of Omaha will use these data to model the potential benefits that future control options may offer.

Contact

Jason Vogel
Dave Rus
U.S. Geological Survey
5231 South 19th St .
Lincoln , NE 68512-1271
(402) 328-4100 (office)
(402) 328-4110 (fax)

 Back to the Nebraska projects page