Second in a three-part series. Coming Saturday: How Cuyahoga Falls is embracing the Cuyahoga River. Read the first part of the story on Ohio.com.

When Akron was putting in its sewer and treatment plant after an order from the State Board of Health in the early 1900s, the focus was on getting sewage away from people.

“Basically, they had raw sewage in their front yard, in their ditches, in the roads,” said Akron Waterways Renewed program manager Pat Gsellman.

The city was ordered to abate the nuisance it was creating in the Little Cuyahoga River due to discharge of untreated sewage.

“The first thought was, ‘Let's just get this waste away from our houses and our homes,’ ” Gsellman said.

About 25% of Akron’s sewer system was constructed as combined sewers in the early 1900s, according to Akron Waterways Renewed. Those combined sewer pipes carry wastewater and stormwater, dumping both into the waterways around Akron during heavy rains.

One hundred years later, the city is in the midst of a massive $1.2 billion sewer project to stop untreated wastewater from overflowing into waterways, including the Cuyahoga River, the Little Cuyahoga and the Ohio & Erie Canal.

The U.S. EPA ordered the overhaul to satisfy the Clean Water Act, with a federal judge ordering it must be completed by 2027. Missing deadlines could trigger civil penalties in the thousands of dollars each day.

Gsellman, who's been with the city 31 years, said much of the work is being done by upgrading the city's aging infrastructure, including the 100-year-old sewer system and nearly 100-year-old Water Reclamation Facility in Merriman Valley.

The Water Reclamation Facility currently treats 280 million gallons a day, but only 220 million gallons receive full biological treatment. After improvements, all 280 million gallons a day will receive full biological treatment.

Of the program's 26 major projects, 65 percent are complete, and 27 percent are under construction.

Those projects include the construction of basins to hold stormwater and wastewater until it can be treated and the construction of the mile-long $184.1 million Ohio Canal Interceptor Tunnel under downtown, dug by Rosie, Akron's tunnel-boring machine, last summer.

Before the city started the work, there were 34 combined sewer overflows in the city, where antiquated combined pipes dumped a combination of untreated wastewater and stormwater into waterways during heavy rain events. When there aren't heavy rain events, everything goes to the Water Reclamation Facility to be treated.

It’s too expensive to separate all of the city’s combined pipes, which stopped being built after the 1930s, so the city is working on other projects, including the storage basins that can catch overflows and the tunnel, which is “a long, skinny storage tank” that handles nine overflows alone, Gsellman said.

The seven basins can hold 27.5 million gallons, while the tunnel can hold 25 million gallons. Another 4.5 million-gallon basin is under construction.

Through the integrated planning process, the city also is looking at alternative projects.

Seven overflows have been completely eliminated. Sixteen locations would overflow during rain events just over the average. Twenty-seven would overflow during heavy rains.

The city is not allowed to have any untreated overflows in a typical year — one of the most stringent requirements in the country — because of Akron's proximity to Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Gsellman said.

"When you flush the toilet, you just anticipate that it's going to work how it's supposed to, but there's a lot of people behind the scenes ... designing fixes to some of the things that need to be fixed,” Akron Waterways Renewed communications manager Heather Bolestridge said.

The cost of the project falls on customers, with a significant portion of their sewer bills going toward it after price hikes. The city has received some low-interest loans, but those will eventually have to be repaid.

Gsellman said the city is looking for ways to reduce costs and save money.

“The river didn't get to where it is today being this beautiful, clean, meeting-standards river,” Gsellman said. “It took a lot of money and a lot of time. ... It didn't happen overnight, and it took a lot of money, and it's been a financial strain on the residents, obviously. It wasn't cheap to get to where we are today."

With all the work, which also includes constructing stormwater wetlands to catch water, the city is keeping pathogens, heavy metals and suspended solids out of the area's waterways.

The projects also remove oxygen-demanding substances, like raw wastewater, to help put oxygen back in the water. This helps support wildlife, like bugs, fish and the birds that eat them.

“In my mind, you can take all the samples you want of all the chemicals, but if the fish and bugs that are living in the river are living and producing and reproducing ... that to me really tells you the health of the river,” Gsellman said. “The herons wouldn't be back and the bald eagles wouldn't be back unless there was a food source, and that food source is coming from the river.”

Supporters of the Cuyahoga notice and appreciate the work Akron is doing to clean up the river.

“It's not just words. ... It's a concept. It's a mindset,” said Summit Metro Parks watershed specialist and Friends of the Crooked River co-founder Elaine Marsh. “We're no longer just talking about pipes underground. ... We're talking about renewing the waterways.”

Contact Emily Mills at 330-996-3334, emills@thebeaconjournal.com and @EmilyMills818.