For an agency tasked with cleaning wastewater and managing stormwater for the almost 50 years, sustainability is not a new concept.

Strategic sustainability, however, is something to be excited about.

This month, the Sewer District launches its first-ever Sustainability Plan, a comprehensive framework for operations and decision-making that will allow us to continue providing critical services, protecting our environment, and preserving resources.

“We are an environmental organization and always have been,” said CEO Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells. “Sustainability has had a place in our strategic plans for a long time. But sustainability isn’t a goal of its own. …

Infrastructure is expensive. That’s not an excuse. It’s a reality, one we manage every single day.

We owe it to customers to be responsible, resourceful, and respectful in our decisions to ensure we are spending smart. That’s an obligation and it should be your expectation.

As that critical need to maintain and improve our wastewater and stormwater systems remains a priority, we’ve proposed an annual rate increase of 4.7 percent for the years 2022–2026, a schedule we presented to our Board of Trustees at their April 7 meeting.

The rate increase will help to fund, in part, the uninterrupted work…

In this #BehindTheBill series, we take a closer look at the work made possible by your monthly or quarterly NEORSD bill.

When it comes to managing stormwater, it’s better to work with nature than against it.

Constructed sewers are a big part of our work but lesser known are the nature-based solutions like green infrastructure and stream restoration that help slow the flow of water in both the environment and the sewer system. That means healthier streams and more sustainable sewer investments.

Consider stream problems like flooding, erosion, debris blockages and water quality. Issues like these are often caused by…

In this #BehindTheBill series, we take a closer look at the work made possible by your monthly or quarterly NEORSD bill.

Flashing amber lights on the shoulder of your morning commute catch your attention but rarely make a memory. A safety-green “Field staff” T-shirt-wearing public worker walks the stream in your neighborhood, clipboard in hand, but unless they approach your property, it’s often not worth a second thought.

The reality is that dozens of sewer and environmental maintenance workers are out and active across our 62 communities every day, managing systems for public health and public safety.

Sewer System Maintenance…

In this #BehindTheBill series, we take a closer look at the work made possible by your monthly or quarterly NEORSD bill.

Billions of dollars and billions of gallons of water are trusted to people like Karrie.

Karrie Buxton is a Construction Supervisor overseeing tunnel projects. Her primary work is to ensure the successful completion of Project Clean Lake’s huge tunnels, but she is just one of hundreds of employees working across the region to build and maintain systems that ensure Lake Erie is protected.

“When you’re 200 feet [underground], you still get a little excited,” Buxton said in a 2020…

In this #BehindTheBill series, we take a closer look at the work made possible by your monthly or quarterly NEORSD bill.

In one year, more than 35,000 water samples work their way through our laboratory, and our lake is better because of it.

Only a small fraction of your sewer bill funds our Analytical Services department. But the work and efficiency of this team is critical to ensuring the water we treat is safe for the environment every day of the year.

From microscopes to mass spectrometers, the technology and technical expertise of our lab staff combine to test water…

In this #BehindTheBill series, we take a closer look at the work made possible by your monthly or quarterly NEORSD bill.

The phrase “money down the drain” conveys a sense of wastefulness and loss. It’s not something we want customers to feel about the sewer bills they pay, which could be considered actual money supporting the actual work of actual drains.

But the truth is: your sewer bill is an investment in drains, and sewers, and healthy streams, and the people, processes, and projects that make it all possible.

When you flush a toilet or run your sink or even…

In this #BehindTheBill series, we take a closer look at the work made possible by your monthly or quarterly NEORSD bill.

If you pay a water bill, a phone bill, internet bill, electric bill, you usually do so with their benefits right at your fingertips: You see, touch, or are surrounded by the very service you’re paying for.

But your sewer bill?

So much of our work as a sewer and stormwater utility is hidden underground, beyond the drain, or perhaps woven into the environment in such a way that you never make the connection between your bill, the benefit…