Stormwater, Asset Management and Wastewater Grant Used to Improve City’s Sanitary Sewer System

Assistant City Manager, Rich LaBombard provided us with information regarding updates which have been taking place to improve the City’s sanitary sewer system through various projects over the past couple of years.   Thanks, Rich for the useful information!

 

Construction projects, new sewer lift stations, smoke testing, soil borings.

You’ve probably noticed there has been quite a bit of activity in the City over the past couple of years with new lift stations being built, construction around the Wastewater Treatment Plant and along the Flat River, and road construction on S. Broadway.  It’s all related and being done to benefit Lowell citizens. These improvements are part of the normal replacement work needed in all communities with those systems.

Additionally, the City of Lowell is the recipient of a SAW grant.  SAW stands for Stormwater, Asset Management and Wastewater.  The DEQ’s SAW program is a $450 million program intended to improve water quality throughout the State by offering grant assistance to municipalities to develop asset management plans for wastewater and stormwater planning, design, and testing projects. 558 communities around the state were awarded some grant assistance.  Lowell was awarded $882,168 from the State DEQ through a lottery process to create its own asset management plan.  While out of sight and perhaps out of mind, underground utilities do need to be maintained and managed.  Sewers need to be inventoried, cleaned and inspected.  The SAW grant is being used to refine our inventory maps, clean/inspect all of our sewers,  and will ultimately help us identify all the storm and sanitary system issues. We will then prioritize the needed work and develop a long term improvement plan.

Inflow and Infiltration

Since 2016, the City and Prein&Newhof have been working to identify and reduce inflow and infiltration (commonly referred to as I&I) into the sanitary sewer system.  Inflow and Infiltration is when unwanted surface water and ground water enters into the sanitary sewer system.  It’s not a good thing, particularly when you realize that unwanted ground and surface water entering the sanitary sewer can overtax the capacity of the treatment plant and inevitably ends up costing the City because any water that passes through the plant has to be treated.  Throughout the City, Prein&Newhof is using smoke testing to identify possible locations in the sanitary sewer system where unwanted water has the opportunity to enter into the system through cracks, open joints, or unapproved connections.  You may have noticed crews working around the City over the past several weeks pumping smoke into manholes.

High water table

The Valley Vista neighborhood has a very high water table compared to the rest of the City.  Engineers suspect there is a geologic reason for this phenomenon which creates a sort of underground clay bowl effect that holds water.  This high water table creates an opportunity for greater inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewer system.  Engineers have been attempting to determine how to break through the geologic dam by taking a variety of soil borings to study the makeup of the soils around the west side of the City.  The more soil borings the engineers take, the better developed the underground picture becomes and engineers will be able to determine the feasibility of a solution to lower the groundwater and reduce inflow and infiltration on the west side of the City.

Flooding

Lowell being at the confluence of two rivers is accustomed to flooding.  Floodwater is another source of inflow and infiltration.  Last year’s project to build new sewer lift stations replaced the 40 year old stations, but also increased pumping capacity.  Increasing the capacity also helps prevent flooding backups in resident’s basements.

Broadway

Finally, the S. Broadway utility replacement project was necessary to improve underground sewer mains and move those lines away from the Flat River.  Replacing and relocating the lines was another measure to help reduce inflow and infiltration.

So why does this matter?  Reducing inflow and infiltration matters to everyone because it helps to protect water quality, but it matters financially as well.  If we can reduce the amount of unwanted water in the sanitary system, we can extend the life of the wastewater treatment plant and contain the costs for treatment.  Not taking steps to reduce I&I would force the City to have to undertake an expensive expansion of the wastewater treatment plant.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*