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Keokuk residents find out more about $4.1 million sewer project
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| Jim Hankes of Keokuk talks with Iowa Voices Project photographer and author Katie Thompson, left, and Sue Prochazka, executive director of Tri-State Coalition Against Domesic and Sexual Abuse, Friday at the Iowa Voices Project display in the River City Mall, Keokuk. |
By Steve Dunn/Gate City Managing Editor
Keokuk residents Thursday got a closer look at a sewer separation project that is expected to cost about $4,150,000 and begin in June 2009.
The neighborhood meeting at Wells-Carey Elementary School was the first step in a process that will replace an 80-year-old combined sewer system with separate sanitary and storm sewers between Seventh and 11th streets and Ridge and Timea streets. Residents in the 16-square-block area also will get new streets and sidewalks by the summer of 2011.
A new sanitary sewer also will be built from 10th Street to Kiser Park at 14th and Palean streets.
There have been three sewer failures in the area already, city officials and representatives of Veenstra & Kimm of West Des Moines pointed out. During heavy rainfalls, raw sewage goes into Soap Creek, which empties into the Mississippi River.
The $4.1 million project is part of a long range plan that could cost about $62 million over 17 to 30 years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants the city to separate sanitary and storm sewers throughout the city in 17 years. However, the city has hired a Washington, D.C., firm to challenge the EPA and is asking for at least 30 years to complete the work.
Sewer rates are expected to increase an average of $12.25 a month this year; $15 a month next year; and 6 percent a year in succeeding years.
The new storm sewer between Seventh and 10th streets and Soap Creek and Timea streets is expected to cost about $2,791,000. The new sanitary sewer in the same area is estimated at $1,009,000. The new sanitary sewer between 10th and 14th streets and Soap Creek and Kiser Park is expected to cost about $350,000.
The project's schedule calls for plans and specifications to be completed in January 2009 and state revolving loan requirements to be finished in March 2009. The construction permit review is scheduled to be completed in May 2009, with the bid letting in June 2009. Sewer construction would begin in June 2009 and end in August 2010. Street construction would start in May 2010 and end in August 2011.
The residents who attended the meeting were asked to be patient during the construction period. The contractor will be given a window of time to complete the work or face liquidated damages if the Soap Creek project is not completed on schedule.
All agencies involved in the project including the state historical agency must sign off before bids can be let. Easements will be needed in some cases, too.
Individual sewer services from homes to the old brick sewers will present challenges in that they will have to be reoriented to new sewers along the streets in some cases. Some homes also may have multiple sewer lines.
Another issue is what to do with the old brick sewers after the new sanitary and storm sewers are built. The state historical office wants the city to save the old sewers. However, city officials prefer to fill them so that they don't collapse.
Properties that front Seventh Street shouldn't be impacted by the Soap Creek project, according to Veenstra & Kim.
The project will alleviate some flooding in that area, said Ted Payseur of Veenstra & Kim.
The Soap Creek project will involve 13,531 feet of pipe; 116 intakes, structures, manholes and connections; and 10 blocks of paving, according to the information presented at Thursday's meeting.
The neighborhood meeting at Wells-Carey Elementary School was the first step in a process that will replace an 80-year-old combined sewer system with separate sanitary and storm sewers between Seventh and 11th streets and Ridge and Timea streets. Residents in the 16-square-block area also will get new streets and sidewalks by the summer of 2011.
A new sanitary sewer also will be built from 10th Street to Kiser Park at 14th and Palean streets.
There have been three sewer failures in the area already, city officials and representatives of Veenstra & Kimm of West Des Moines pointed out. During heavy rainfalls, raw sewage goes into Soap Creek, which empties into the Mississippi River.
The $4.1 million project is part of a long range plan that could cost about $62 million over 17 to 30 years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants the city to separate sanitary and storm sewers throughout the city in 17 years. However, the city has hired a Washington, D.C., firm to challenge the EPA and is asking for at least 30 years to complete the work.
Sewer rates are expected to increase an average of $12.25 a month this year; $15 a month next year; and 6 percent a year in succeeding years.
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The project's schedule calls for plans and specifications to be completed in January 2009 and state revolving loan requirements to be finished in March 2009. The construction permit review is scheduled to be completed in May 2009, with the bid letting in June 2009. Sewer construction would begin in June 2009 and end in August 2010. Street construction would start in May 2010 and end in August 2011.
The residents who attended the meeting were asked to be patient during the construction period. The contractor will be given a window of time to complete the work or face liquidated damages if the Soap Creek project is not completed on schedule.
All agencies involved in the project including the state historical agency must sign off before bids can be let. Easements will be needed in some cases, too.
Individual sewer services from homes to the old brick sewers will present challenges in that they will have to be reoriented to new sewers along the streets in some cases. Some homes also may have multiple sewer lines.
Another issue is what to do with the old brick sewers after the new sanitary and storm sewers are built. The state historical office wants the city to save the old sewers. However, city officials prefer to fill them so that they don't collapse.
Properties that front Seventh Street shouldn't be impacted by the Soap Creek project, according to Veenstra & Kim.
The project will alleviate some flooding in that area, said Ted Payseur of Veenstra & Kim.
The Soap Creek project will involve 13,531 feet of pipe; 116 intakes, structures, manholes and connections; and 10 blocks of paving, according to the information presented at Thursday's meeting.
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WOW wrote on Oct 12, 2008 2:17 AM: