Charleston council approves $340,169 emergency repair at Brittlebank Park to stop landfill leachate

The Charleston City Council approved an emergency repair contract with BNC Land Development for $340,169 to address a collapsed drainage pipe at Brittlebank Park that has allowed leachate from landfill material to enter the adjacent waterway near the outfall to Gadsden Creek.

Public Works staff described multiple prior repair attempts: an in-house fix for a shallow collapse, and a $30,000 contracted repair for a second, more complex collapse. After those efforts did not fully stop the leachate, staff recommended a trenchless lining of the pipe system to prevent landfill material from entering the drainage line.

Mr. Fountain, a city staff member involved in the work, said the trenchless method will line the interior of the pipe without open excavation through the landfill. “This process basically in a trenchless technology … will line the entire system of pipe with a new interior pipe lining, which should prevent any of that material from being able to get in,” Fountain said during the meeting. He added crews had identified two substantive collapses on video inspection and that the system drains roughly 1,000 feet along the Brittlebank Park frontage from Lockwood.

The council approved the emergency repair by voice vote after a motion and a second; the clerk recorded “the ayes have it.” The transcript records the contract amount and the utility sizes: approximately 46 linear feet of repairs involving 24-inch and 36-inch diameter pipes. The project was previously discussed and approved unanimously in the public works committee, according to staff remarks recorded during the meeting.