Columbia residents are invited to provide their input into the city's plans to improve sewer and stormwater utilities over the next five years.
A city survey is available online through Aug. 31 on the city's website.
At an open house Wednesday, Columbia residents said they wanted the city to focus on improving stream water quality.
“We’ll use that information, and then the information that we gather here from the open house, and that will directly tie into how we prioritize those projects,” said Erin Keys, assistant director of sewer and stormwater utilities.
City staff were at the event to answer questions and provide context for projects being considered by the divisions and asked to indicate which they thought were most important. The goal of these projects is to protect both the Columbia community and the environment by working on current infrastructure.
The work is a continuation of a sewer and stormwater plan initiated in 2018. Since then, city officials said, work that has been completed on the city's sewer and stormwater utilities includes:
- $9.8 million worth of sewer rehabilitation projects in neighborhoods, the Business Loop, downtown and along Bear Creek.
- $7 million in rehabilitation work at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
- Inspection of 1,680 stormwater outfalls, in search of stormwater contaminants.
- Replacement of 4,000 feet of failing stormwater pipes.
