Steuben Lakes Regional Waste District

JPR was retained by the Steuben Lakes Regional Waste District (SLRWD) to study and prepare Preliminary Engineering Reports and Environmental Reports for two potential new sewer projects within the District's municipal boundary. The SLRWD is one of the largest such districts in the State of Indiana with nearly 10,000 existing customers in and around the many beautiful lakes in Steuben County, which is in the northeast corner of Indiana.

One of the study areas, known as the "Northeast District" (NED), is one of the more complicated studies the firm has ever worked on. Instead of a typical "sewer from scratch" type of situation, in the NED there are several different types of scenarios that exist. There are homes and businesses with no available connection to a public sewer system, there are 3 different areas where homes are connected to community "Septic Tank Effluent Pump" systems (STEP systems) that are at the end of their design life, and finally right in the middle of the area is Pokagon State Park. This popular state park currently maintains and operates their own collection system and treatment plant.

The other study area, Lake Pleasant, is a small lake community that straddles the Indiana-Michigan state line. The lake is already partially served with public sewer, and the study sought to find an economic method to provide service to the areas that are as of yet unserved. A private association of homeowners actually petitioned the District to amend their municipal boundary so that they could join the district, and eventually become customers.

JPR's Engineering department was able to divide responsibilities accordingly among an assembled team in order to bring these studies to draft and submittal status within 3 months.

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