ASCE has honored Lick Run Valley Conveyance System and Greenway Project with the 2023 Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Award for promoting developments in sustainability through the concept of intertwining green and gray solutions to provide alternatives for large-scale projects traditionally solved by use of only gray infrastructure.
The Lick Run watershed projects were designed and constructed to provide long-term benefits to the social vitality of the community that would not have been provided by the more expensive deep tunnel solution. The suite of projects in the 2,700-acre watershed is one of the largest greenhouse infrastructure efforts in the U.S. for reducing combined sewer overflows (CSOs) by strategic separation of stormwater from a combined sewer system. The cornerstone project of the watershed is a 1.5-mile-long corridor that includes strategic separation, flood control, stormwater storage, water reuse, and water quality treatment through an innovative, hybrid channel/conduit conveyance system integrated into a civic park, now named the Lick Run Greenway.
Community engagement and regulatory compliance has led to a beautiful, reinvigorated environment and a boost to the economy of a struggling Cincinnati neighborhood.
The Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Award recognizes a civil engineering project for its creativity in the form of innovative sustainability. Projects must demonstrate adherence to the principles of economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
