National recognition 3.7.11

INDIANAPOLIS STAR

An announcement that Mayor Ballard considers "the biggest story of the year" in 2010 received national recognition recently from an engineering trade publication.
In his State of the City speech last month and elsewhere, Ballard touted $740 million in savings from recent engineering changes to a 20-year sewer system upgrade. The upgrade is intended to significantly reduce sewage overflows into area waterways from systems that carry both storm runoff and sanitary waste.
By 2007, the cost for improvements mandated by the federal agencies, along with other upgrades, was estimated at $3.8 billion. That's $300 million more than budgeted.
However, last year's engineering changes and an accelerated construction schedule are expected to reduce the tab to about $3.1 billion.
Industry trade magazine Engineering News-Record featured the renegotiated deal on the cover of its Feb. 14 issue, with the headline: "Water Rescue." The publication says Indianapolis is the first city to modify a sewer-related consent decree through better efficiencies and cost savings.
"I think it validates what we've been doing," a proud Ballard told us last week, crediting Public Works Director David Sherman and his team for leading the effort.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110306/NEWS05/103060394/-1/7daysarchives/Will-new-faces-transform-board-