The City of Huntington has started an ambitious program to remove 4 of the 11 Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's). that currently divert storm water into local rivers when there is a heavy rain or water event. Working with Bonar Engineering, the City has saved almost 1 million dollars from the projected cost of the project then, Huntington received a better than expected rate by financing through the State of Indiana saving almost another million dollars.

The CSO project mandated by the US Congress in the 1976 Clean Water Act, reverses a trend of using our waterways as enlarged sewers. When Huntington has a large amount of surface water enter the CSO's a certain amount had been going directly into the local rivers. By removing storm water from the sanitary sewers lines, surface water run off will not have to be treated at the City's Waste Water Treatment Plant located on Hitzfield Street extended. This will save the residents money. Further, the funds used for the project will be a shot in the arm to the local economy. Economists state that when money is spent in a community it is re-spent or re0circulated up to six times before it makes its way out of a community. Using that rule of thumb, the CSO project could have up to an additional 6 million dollar impact on our local economy. The figure is based upon a firm paying its employees wages who in turn pay taxes, purchase items and use the money locally in addition to the money that the businesses re-invest in a community.