Celebrating 50 Years of Clean Water Impacts with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District

August 31, 2022

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of our partners at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. That’s right - NEORSD has been positively impacting our communities for 50 years now. We’re extremely fortunate to have CEO Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells serving as Vice Chair of our Board, and are grateful for the vision and expertise she contributes to impacting meaningful change in the way we value water in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

In commemoration of NEORSD's strides in clean water initiatives over the past five decades, the organization has focused on six monthly themes from March through August, highlighting stories that help capture the people, programs, and progress that have impacted our region for the better since 1972.

Here’s a recap of the 50th anniversary themes:

March: Sparking change

Even before its establishment in 1972, local and national events were shaping NEORSD’s future work and the responsibilities the organization would take on. Since then, its work has been extensive, expensive, and essential.

April: Healthier lake and streams

NEORSD’s earliest days were heavily invested in improving treatment plants and expanding the system to best serve our region. Doing so began bringing life back to a once-dead river.

May: Recreation

To welcome the beach season, the organization looked more closely at the programs that have helped make our river and lakefront a destination — and how they plan to keep them that way.

June: Protecting our lake and streams

Project Clean Lake is a 25-year program that will reduce pollution in Lake Erie by 4 billion gallons per year through a combination of large tunnels, treatment plant improvements and expansion, and green infrastructure to reduce the volume of combined sewer overflow discharging to our Great Lake. NEORSD’s combined sewer overflow control work didn’t start with Project Clean Lake, rather the consent decree was a manifestation of years of work and forethought.

July: Resilience

Managing a 400+ mile stream network comes down to understanding our environment’s past, present, and future. NEORSD’s regional stormwater management program was years in the making, and it’s also helping our sewer and stream networks today.

August: Community

As a regional utility, NEORSD believes that relationships are key to advancing its clean-water mission by bringing partners and customers together.


All these stories will converge at Clean Water Fest on Saturday, September 17, 2022. You can keep track of these stories, art, and impacts at https://www.neorsd.org/50.

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