No stormwater overflow basin in Brückenstraße
Joint press release by the ESC and the City of Chemnitz
"Good news for the residents of Brückenstraße and also for all those who want to go into Chemnitz city centre: The rainwater overflow basin in Brückenstraße does not have to be built," says Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig.
The reason for the positive news: during the planning process, the waste management company of the city of Chemnitz (ESC) had the general drainage plan (GEP), which has to be drawn up regularly, revised ahead of schedule using an alternative procedure. As a result, the drainage system is largely state of the art. In addition to some rainwater overflows, only one tank at the Heinersdorf central sewage treatment plant needs to be extended.
At its meeting on 26 March 2015, the Chemnitz City Council decided on the location of the rainwater overflow basin in Brückenstraße, following a recommendation from the city administration. This was based on EU standards, non-compliance with which can result in severe financial penalties. Since the city council's decision, the dimensions of the project have changed fundamentally. The expected costs rose from 16.5 million euros in 2015 to 42 million euros most recently, with a construction period of at least 6 years. Due to the developments in the size of the project, its costs and the construction period, Mayor Ludwig put a stop to planning in summer 2016.
The ESC then decided to review the fundamentals under the new operations manager, who has been in place since autumn. This started with the general drainage plan (GEP), which has to be drawn up regularly, and revised using an alternative method. In contrast to the previous procedure, concrete measurement results were used instead of standard values. The ESC hoped that this would provide new insights for the construction measures to be implemented. The results now available show that this hope was justified.
According to the revised GEP, it is possible to bring the drainage system in Chemnitz up to the legally required state of the art with a manageable amount of effort in terms of hydraulics and pollution load. The storage volume required for Chemnitz in the combined sewer network can essentially be realised by expanding a basin at the site of the central sewage treatment plant in Heinersdorf. This means that even during the construction phase, the impact on residents and road traffic is expected to be minimal.