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Hiawatha Moving Forward with Sewer Improvement Project

By Greg Bebermeyer

08/22/2012

( KNZA )--The Hiawatha City Commission has approved moving forward with phase one of the city’s sanitary sewer system improvement project.

The commission Monday evening directed TREKK Engineering to prepare the necessary documents and also include an alternative bid for addressing the most cost effective private-sector inflow and infiltration defects.

Phase one includes manhole rehabilitation along with line rehabilitation and replacement at an estimated cost of $1.5 million.

The city has been awarded a nearly one million dollar loan from USDA Rural Development and $500,000 Community Development Block grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce to fund the project.

Hiawatha is under an executive order from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to reduce rain and groundwater from entering the city’s sanitary sewer system.

Galen Lay and James Fisher with TREKK discussed an evaluation study conducted of the city’s sewer system. The study identified a total of 175 public sector inflow and infiltration defects and 89 private-sector defects.

Lay said he believes the private in-home corrections that have been made to date have already had a significant impact on addressing the issues.

Public Works Director Dave Grimm says 80 percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been inspected for illegal connections to the city’s sewer system, and they plan to do the remainder this fall.

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