CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s $3 billion Project Clean Lake has passed the halfway point, with billions of gallons of sewage already kept out of Lake Erie and much more to come.

The 25-year program, created under a 2011 consent decree with federal and state agencies, is expected to slash combined-sewer discharges by 4.3 billion gallons a year to a little more than 200 million gallons by 2035.

Originally, the agreement called for 98% of combined stormwater and sanitary sewage in the district’s service area to be captured and treated, but tweaks have increased the expected capture rate to 99% by the time the work is finished.

At the center of Project Clean Lake are seven massive storage tunnels — some two to five miles long, up to 300 feet deep, and wi

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