Sewer work waiting on USDA go-ahead
♦ Cave Spring is getting ready to start a $5 million sewer upgrade.
Cave Spring Mayor Rob Ware said they’re preparing to start up preconstruction conferences for the city’s $5 million sewer system upgrade.
They’re just waiting on the final go-ahead from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is handling the project.
“They just need to look at everything that’s been submitted and make sure everything is there that’s needed,” Ware said.
Jump-started by a $1.2 million earmark in the 2017 special purpose, local option sales tax package, the project has been in the works for the past year as City Council members formalized state and federal loans and grants that raised their budget to about $5 million.
At a meeting in March, the city council agreed to have the USDA take the lead.
Once they’ve signed off, Ware plans to schedule a preconstruction meeting with the council, representatives from the USDA, Georgia Department of Transportation and possibly county officials.
“We might also have someone from Georgia Power and anyone else who might be affected by the construction,” Ware said.
Turnipseed Engineers, based out of Vinings, will oversee the design and construction.
The project came about after the Georgia Environmental Protection Division threatened to take over the system.
Put simply, the city has leaky sewer lines. The issues are caused by serious inflow and infiltration problems at the city’s waste treatment plant on Mill Street.
The project will consist of smoking out the sewer lines to find breaks in the pipes, then figuring out what needs to be replaced or simply repaired.
They will also replace the manhole covers around town, which are mostly brick and mortar. Lastly, the sewer treatment plant will see its own renovation and redesign.
Since there will be a lot of excavation, Ware said they will have to close off some roads from time to time and redirect traffic. However, they’ll make sure they give Cave Spring residents plenty of notice beforehand.