Sewer and water project informational meeting held by Clearbrook City Council

The City Council of  Clearbrook held a public hearing on February 12th at the Clearbrook City Hall.  Curt Meyer, with Widseth Smith Nolting and Associates gave the preliminary engineering report.

The Sanitary sewer needs with the original construction in early 1950’s with vitrified clay pipe to be replaced with plastic pipes. There is also a high inflow and infiltration of clean water that has to go through to be cleaned. There are defects from the sewer televising which include offset joints, cracked and broken pipes, root penetration, pipe sags and deposits. The main lift station has flowing and pump issues especially  down by the park. There is a lack of adequate lift station backup power source.

The water distribution system was originally constructed in the late 1950’s with cast iron pipe. That is prone to rusting and pitting resulting in water main and connection failures and costly repairs. The water tower coating system is failing resulting in corrosion on the interior and exterior of the tank. The existing lead based coating system is a potential liability issue to the city. There is a lack of an adequate backup power source for the wells. The abandoned water tower should be demolished. There will also be a need for a water meter system for billing at the individual users. 

Sanitary sewer alternatives for rehabilitation include increasing the treatment facility capacity to handle the excess flows. The sewer lines could be cured in place with a lining to seal them. Lift station pump and control panel improvements and backup generators. The pond control structure rehabilitations.  Or the collection system could be replaced with sewer pipe and manhole replacement. The lift station pump and control panel improvements, life station backup generators and pond control structure rehabilitations.

Water system alternatives include distribution system rehabilitation with water main cement mortar lining, existing water tower rehabilitation, abandoned water tower demolition, backup generator for wells and water meter system. District system replacement would include water main and service pipe replacement, existing water tower rehabilitation, abandoned water tower demolition, backup generator for wells and water meter system.

A very preliminary cost estimate was also given by Meyer with Sanitary Sewer Improvement $3,482,017; Water Main Improvement $2,756,335, Water Tower improvement $699,504; Water Meters $194,300, Street Improvements $686,542 for a total of $7,818,698. These figures change after the project gets under way.

Funding sources were explained with Federal Resources from USDA Rural Development grants and loans. State Resources from State Bonding Funding to be administered by the Public Facilities Authority.

Preliminary combined water and sanitary sewer rates for the proposed project would be $63.00 for water and $63.00 for sewer with no grant funding obtained. With grant funding the monthly rate per water and sewer were projected to be $55 to $60 per water and sewer.

The Environmental report indicated that there is no adverse environment impacts from the proposed project that are anticipated.