A consultant presentation to the Tulare City Council on Tuesday outlined widespread structural deterioration in the city’s downtown sewer system and recommended a risk-based capital improvement program of roughly $12 million.

Tricia, a city staff member, told the council the city contracted inspections because of renewed interest in downtown redevelopment and the need to understand aging sewer infrastructure. "With the increasing interest in redeveloping the downtown, we felt it was necessary to assess the condition of the existing, sewer infrastructure," she said.

Tim Loper, the project presenter, said consultants used closed-circuit television inspections and the NASSCO PACP scoring system to evaluate about 7.4 miles of gravity mains and roughly 120 manholes. "About half of the pipelines, 49% had a score of 4, and almost 20% had a score of 5," Loper said, citing the PACP results and photos showing broken vitrified clay pipe, large holes and offset joints.

The consultant described how condition scores, counts of defects and consequence-of-failure factors (pipe diameter, number of customers served, proximity to waterways or critical facilities) were combined to calculate a risk score for each segment. Loper said the analysis identified approximately 10 high-priority segments (about a half-mile) that represent the greatest near-term risk to the system.

Based on those priorities, the report recommends a mix of replacement, pipe lining and spot repairs. Loper summarized planning-level cost estimates by risk tier, including about $3.6 million in very-high work, $2.3 million in high, and about $4.9 million in medium categories, yielding a total recommended downtown program of about $12,000,000.

Council members asked implementation questions about why Kern Avenue showed concentrated need and whether residential areas were inspected; Loper said the study focused on the downtown study area and the Kern Avenue interceptor is an older, heavily used main. A councilmember asked whether the city had budgeted for downtown work; staff replied that specific downtown allocations had not been in prior budgets and that the assessment will inform future CIP prioritization.

No formal policy action was required on the study at this meeting; staff said the report will be used to develop prioritized projects and to coordinate possible work with upcoming paving or development projects.

The city said it will bundle work into logical construction packages, integrate O&M hotspot items into the city’s SSMP (Sanitary Sewer Management Plan) for increased cleaning frequency where needed, and return to the council as specific design or construction projects are ready for programming and funding.