City seeks choices for grout removal

City officials want a range of options readily available when contractors start removing grout from a plugged sewer pipe on Washington Avenue.

Timothy Moot, a principal with the firm Clark Patterson Lee, told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee last week that several options have been explored to remove the grout from the sanitary sewer system, not all of which were successful. He said that has included using a high-water-pressure jetting tool, as well as differently sized cutting tools that would fit inside the clogged pipe. His firm is also looking into a solvent that potentially could be used to remove the grout, Moot said.

None of the methods being explored would require disturbing the street surface, Moot said.

The goal is to have contractors bid on the project based upon the different methods they could use to remove the grout, Moot said. He said the city would receive price schedules as part of the bids, which would include day rates for the

crews, trucks and removal methods.

“The idea is, once we say ‘go,” we want to be there in place,” Moot said. “And if one thing doesn’t really work out, we want to be able to switch it up and try another without stopping.”

The grout blockage occurred during repair of the sinkhole that opened on Washington Avenue in April 2011. During the repair, grout somehow penetrated a new sewer lining, blocking a portion of the pipe.

Moot told the committee he was not yet sure whether the lining would have to be removed from the Washington Avenue pipe or just the portion that became distorted.

On Nov. 2, the Common Council voted to borrow $150,000 for design of the project to remove the grout that’s blocking the pipe, as well as to fund ongoing rental fees for a pump station system being used to bypass the clogged section of the sanitary sewer system. Clark Patterson Lee is designing the project. Moot said the goal is to have draft bid documents to the city by mid April. The project would then go to bid in May, he said.

After the bids are received, Moot said, his firm will evaluate each and make a recommendation to the Common Council.

Moot has previously told aldermen the repair project could cost between $1.1 million and $1.3 million.