Sewage Department
CITY OF BERNE
SEWAGE DEPARTMENT
Water is one basic resource that every city and town across America relies on. Historically, when cities were first addressing their infrastructure, creating Combined Sewer Overflows or CSO’s (one pipe carrying both sewage and stormwater to the waste water treatment plant) were a common and accepted way of containing and treating sewage.
There are approximately 770 communities in the United States that are CSO cities. Indiana accounts for over 100 such communities and each one must meet IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) and EPA standards for clean water.
The City of Berne owns and operates our Waste Water Treatment Plant at 343 East 550 South which is also home to our compost facility.
CERTIFICATIONS & EQUIPMENT
As mandated by an Agreed Order established by IDEM, Berne has undertaken extensive infrastructure improvements in recent years. The City of Berne continues to do projects that are both fiscally sound and which will lead to the successful completion of our IDEM approved Long Term Control plan.
Our WWTP operators are IDEM certified test and are required to submit written monthly reports to IDEM which must meet water quality standards in strict adherence to our NPDES permit (IN0021369).
Berne has a jet rodding truck that uses high velocity water to flush sand, silt, stone, and debris out of our sewer infrastructure system. This Vac (vacuum) truck has proven cost effective and beneficial in the basic maintenance of our in Waste Water Treatment System.