The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Council wants utilities plan
Projects to carry the city through 2023 involve water and sewer pipes underground, as well as water and wastewater treatment plants
More upgrades are coming for Lorain’s underground pipes that flow with water and wastewater.
Those improvements are necessary, but should be part of a master plan for the Lorain Utilities Department, Lorain City Council members said.
A year ago, Lorain water and sewer rates were a hot button issue for residents, council members and the city administration.
The city’s response prompted petitions for a vote to change the form of government in Lorain.
That Charter Commission process will start soon and take place in 2021.
In the meantime, the Lorain utilities and engineering departments created a list of more projects.
The total could reach estimated spending of more than $92.14 million from 2021 to 2023.
November was a busy month for utilities planning in Lorain.
City staff had scheduled bid openings for a major waterline replacement and upgrades for the Black River and Philip Q. Maiorana wastewater treatment plants.
On Nov. 9, Utilities Director Paul Wilson and city Deputy Director of Engineering Guy Singer presented details of various projects for the water and sewer lines and the treatment plants that process drinking water and clean it after it washes down the drain of homes or businesses.
It was an annual review by Council’s Streets and Utilities Committee.
“As councilmen and women, we all get the phone calls from residents angry and upset with water bills,” said Committee Chairman Joshua Thornsberry of Ward 8. “I think it’s really important for us to communicate where that money is being spent.
“There’s a lot of misinformation in the community in regards to that.”
A master plan
It was that meeting that prompted Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion to suggest creating a public utilities advisory committee to look at options, analyze rates, residents’ interests, site conditions and selections and generally what Lorain might look like in 10, 15 or 20 years.
The city is using a piecemeal approach now, Carrion said.
The Utilities Department capital improvement figures included water plant improvement projects estimated at $30 million over 2022 and 2023.
“Everything is coming from many angles without a full vision of how all this ties together,” Carrion said. “These are a lot of expenses and I’m sure they’re needed; considering the age of the infrastructure, I get it.
“But when we’re talking about the numbers that are being thrown around here tonight … we need to start looking at this broadly, put it all together, let’s bring all these pieces together and figure out how is this going to tie in.”
Thornsberry and Councilwoman-at-Large Mary Springowski agreed.
Redhill waterline work
On Nov. 12, city staff opened bids for the Redhill Boosted Pressure Zone Improvements, a water project.
The project and zone are named for the water pressure booster station off Redhill Drive.
“It’s going to be a very large and a very complicated water main project,” Wilson said.
Two studies have listed it as a high priority project, he said.
“This was the top priority project in the study mainly because it had a very wide impact for a lot of customers, and because it addresses a lot of problems, low pressure, redundancy, fire flow, undersized mains, lead service lines,” Wilson said.
The Redhill pressure zone has just one water main that feeds the area, making the area vulnerable to loss of service if that main breaks, Singer said.
The pressure zone has about 1,600 customers in the area roughly between Broadway and Washington Avenue, and in the subdivisions between North Ridge Road south to Middle Ridge Road.
Starting in 2021, the two-year job will replace about 40,000 feet — more than seven miles — of water mains.
In the last four to five years, water main projects have dealt with removal and replacement of water mains.
The Redhill project will require service lines for customers, so it will require a lot of coordination with the customers, Wilson said.
“There’s just going to be a lot of extraordinary things going on with this project,” he said.
A typical waterline project has run about $3 million for the city, Wilson said.
The Redhill project has an estimated cost of $12.5 million, although the final cost may be less.
Six contractors bid on the job; the apparent low bidder was about $7.48 million, according to the bid tally.
City staff are examining the bid papers and will make a recommendation on hiring a firm for the job.
The city will pay for the project using a low-interest loan through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.