MANHOLE SINKING

Commissioners authorize emergency action; repairs estimated at $147,875

in east Little Rock as river levels fluctuate, sewer officials report.

Arkansas River flooding over the past month caused a manhole in east Little Rock to sink, sewer officials said Wednesday.

The manhole, located off East Sixth Street near the river, was still sinking when Howell Anderson, chief operating officer of the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority, addressed the utility’s board of commissioners Wednesday evening, having fallen nearly 2 feet below its normal level.

“We have been monitoring it for the last week and a half, two weeks,” Anderson said at the commission’s meeting.

The river levels going up and down, combined with the fine soil in the area, create a “quicksand situation,” he said.

Repairs are estimated to cost $147,875. Included are the costs of putting in bypass pumps so service can continue and pushing out water, which total about $120,000.

“This is a very expensive endeavor,” Anderson said. “You have to drill wells. You have to pump the water out faster than the water can come back in.”

With the manhole at a lower level, the pipes that connect to it were cut off. Wastewater was still able to flow using gravity, which is how that part of the utility’s system operates normally, but the process is slower and a permanent fix is needed, Anderson said.

If the manhole failed, it would jeopardize service to the nearby residence areas and buildings, including the Hollingsworth Grove community, Dassault Falcon Jet and the St. Vincent Health Clinic.

Commissioners authorized emergency action to perform the repair work. Anderson said the utility did not anticipate any interruptions in sewer service during the work.

No contamination or interruptions in service occurred during the flooding in late May and the first two weeks of June, but it took more manpower to keep things operating, said Walter Collins, the utility’s director of operations and facilities.

He estimated that the flood cost the utility $100,000 in operations and maintenance costs, which includes overtime for staff members in the field.

He said there could be about $100,000 worth of construction needed and that there was about $40,000 worth of damage to the Little Maumelle Pump Station, which went under water. That station serves all of west Little Rock.

Collins stressed that those numbers are preliminary estimates and are expected to increase as the utility further assesses the flood’s effect.

The utility plans to turn its numbers in to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in hopes of receiving aid.