Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council approved a contract Nov. 14 to plan and design the next phase of its ongoing effort to reduce inflow and infiltration.
The contract with Brown and Caldwell for consulting services will cost about $382,000. It will include planning, surveying, designing and bid and construction services for a project to replace lateral and main sewer lines.
Inflow and infiltration is water that leaks into the sewer system through old, deteriorating and cracked pipes or through cross connections from storm water systems to the sewer system.
In heavy rains, the extra storm water leaking into the sewer system can overload the treatment plant forcing a bypass of untreated wastewater into the South Santiam River.
The city is operating under an agreement with the Department of Environmental Quality to reduce its I&I levels by January 2010. The deadline was extended from October 2007.
The city has already borrowed $4 million from DEQ in two loans for two large lateral-main projects, Public Works Directory Mike Adams said. In 2005, the council agreed to borrow up to $2 million more for additional work.
The third loan has been used to fund a complete inspection of the sewer lines and flow logging, using a video camera, Adams said. This was an effort to obtain better data on which to base future rehabilitation and repair work in the sewer collection system along with potential modifications to the wastewater treatment plant.
The information gathered through this process along with flow monitoring this winter is being used to identify and prioritize this and future projects, Adams said.
After this project, the city can borrow $800,000 to $1 million more from this loan, which works like a line of credit, Adams said.
The project Brown and Caldwell will design will replace some 3,000 feet of pipe and rehabilitate 16,000 feet using “cured-in-place pipe,” along with manholes and reconnections or realignment of laterals.
Even with these projects complete, the city will have some $24 million in repairs left to make in its sewer system, Adams said.
Under the city’s agreement with DEQ, it will not be penalized for wastewater bypasses caused by heavy rains as long as the city is working on reducing I&I.
The wastewater treatment plant last bypassed untreated wastewater on Nov. 7 at about 9 a.m., Adams said. The plant bypassed .715 million gallons. The city would not have been penalized for bypassing in that case even without the DEQ agreement because it was the result of a five-year storm.
The last time the city had a bypass for which DEQ would normally levy a fine was in January.