City OKs sanitary sewer repairs

Officials drilled by council on street flooding, storm sewer drain cleaning complaints

Rehabilitating sanitary sewer pipes is not causing additional street flooding during heavy rainfall, the Lorain utilities chief said.

But Lorain City Council members said they want a maintenance plan to address streets that become filled with water during storms.

Wastewater and stormwater came up for discussion on July 20 when council voted to continue a program that uses a liner to repair cracked and broken sanitary sewers. Those underground pipes carry wastewater from homes and businesses to one of the city’s two treatment plants.

Council members had questions about that program and emphasized the need to clear and unclog the storm sewers that help rainwater drain off the streets.

Committee chairman Joshua Thornsberry, who represents Ward 8, said the full council would consider the sanitary sewer repair plan.

He also asked Utilities Director Paul Wilson to draft a plan estimating the cost and worker hours needed for a city crew to clean every storm sewer catch basin every year.

That price tag could be astronomical or could be reasonable, Thornsberry said. But council needs to know because if the city completes a project but does not maintain them, it is like throwing money away, he said.

Lining the sewers

During a meeting of the Streets & Utilities Committee, Wilson explained the city plan to continue a method to repair the sanitary sewer pipes.

The technology, called cured-in-place piping, uses a flexible tube installed into an existing pipe. The tube is expanded to fit into the pipe, then cured in place so it hardens, effectively becoming a new underground pipe.

The new pipe blocks rain and groundwater from getting into the sanitary sewer lines. When that happens the city must pay extra to treat the wastewater. Also, over-full sanitary lines could contribute to flooded basements.

The Utilities Department has a 10-year plan to line the sewers in South Lorain and the east side, Wilson said. The new pipe has an estimated 50-year life span, he said.

The city has worked with contractor Insituform to line the wastewater pipes. The technology has been around for several decades and is somewhat commonplace in municipalities, Wilson said.

The next round of sewer lining would be the third year of work in Lorain. The city is spending $737,723 on the project known as the “Year 2 Sewer and Manhole Lining Project,” and would spend $750,000 on the next round of repairs, according to city legislation.

Storm sewers clogged

The cured-in-place piping is a good product, said Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion.

But Lorain had another major problem May 15, when heavy rains caused the worst flooding in 40 years in South Lorain, Carrion said.

In a June community cleanup, Carrion thanked volunteers for cleaning out 200 pounds of muck from a stormwater catch basin at Pearl Avenue and 29th Street.

The storm sewer was blocked solid, he said.

Lorain Utilities Department workers inspect sanitary sewer lines yearly, Wilson said. They clean the catch basins when residents complain about drainage problems, he said.

“Sorry but it doesn’t work,” Carrion said about the complaint-driven response. After the flooding in May, Carrion said he was “very disappointed” the utilities department did not have a review of East 28th Street to explain what happened and how to prevent future flooding.

Ward 1 Councilwoman Beth Henley, Ward 5 Councilwoman JoAnne Moon, Ward 4 Councilman Greg Argenti, Councilwomanat-Large Mary Springowski, Councilman-atLarge Tony Dimacchia and Councilman-at-Large Mitch Fallis all had questions or concerns about flooding. They emphasized problems in South Lorain and the area around Tower Boulevard and Ashland Avenue, an area where street flooding has been problematic for years.