WASTE TREATMENT Officials to scrutinize study of sewer update

Questions about additional development prompted the study.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Repairs and upgrades to a portion of the city's sanitary sewer system could run upward of $1.3 million, consultants told city officials.
Now, city leaders say, they need to look at the study more and develop their own strategy and implement it.
Representatives from MWH Inc., Cleveland, met with city council and other officials Wednesday to discuss the results of a study conducted on a main sewer line that runs almost four miles from Mosquito Creek to the waste treatment plant.
The study, which began more than a year ago, included cleaning and videotaping problem areas of the pipe system.
"It's the backbone of our system," said Randy Fabrizio, superintendent of the water department. "It's never been looked at before."
Fabrizio said the study was commissioned at a cost of about $255,000 when city leaders expressed concern about whether the system could handle more developments. Most of the pipes studied were installed in 1957.
Robin Liss, a project engineer with MWH, showed council a list of problem areas, including areas with heavy corrosion, sagging, leaking and breaks. The costs of individual repairs varied from $5,150 to $151,000.
"The worst of the worst, as we see it, would cost about $885,930 to repair," she said.
GIS map
In addition to determining problem areas, cleaning and videotaping the pipes, project engineers developed a Geographic Information Systems map that city officials will be able to use in a variety of ways.
The GIS map currently plots all segments of the sewer line studied, as well as the location of manhole covers, and where they lie in relation to roads and buildings, explained Vito Cimino, another project manager with MWH.
Cimino said as city workers gather information about other portions of the sewer system, it can be added to the interactive computer map, as well as other data.
Fabrizio said he will work with council on developing a plan to implement recommendations from the study, which was paid for from the city's sewer funds.
Some of the projects may coincide with a list of repairs recommended by a flood water task force last year. That group looked at areas hardest hit by last summer's floods and prioritized needed repairs to the city's infrastructure.
In an effort to offset those costs, council increased sewer rates by $2 last fall. Money generated by that increase can also be used to pay toward repairs listed in the MWH study, officials said.
slshaulis@vindy.com