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Consultants present calibrated sewer model, recommend focused inflow management and a CIP
Summary
Lockwood Andrews Newman reported completion of phase 3 of a calibrated sewer hydraulic model, identified system pinch points using a 5‑year, 6‑hour design storm, and recommended targeted flow monitoring, manhole renewal and a sewer asset management program to guide CIP prioritization.
Lockwood Andrews Newman told the Beaumont City Council its multi‑phase sewer‑system assessment has produced a calibrated hydraulic model that staff can use to predict pinch points, target repairs and plan capital investments.
Russ Ford, senior associate, said the program began in 2017 and expanded from a planned three‑year effort to a seven‑year program that now concludes with phase 3 (East Side model integration). Charles Shumate described the modeling inputs: 45 days of flow monitoring, rain gauge data, water‑billing and treatment plant flows, lift‑station control information and interconnect/diversion data.
Shumate said the team tested a design storm — a 5‑year, 6‑hour event that represents just over five inches of rain, much of it concentrated in a short span — to find likely surcharge and overflow locations. Ford and Shumate identified several local pinch points (48‑inch trunk on 23rd Street to the wastewater plant, a 24‑inch trunk at Calder Avenue, and a 36‑inch line from Santa Fe to 23rd) and recommended prioritizing manhole repairs and inflow management to keep stormwater out of the sanitary system.
They also noted a specific replacement scope — about 8,800 feet of pipe to address a troublesome trunk line tied to a project estimated at roughly $4,000,000 — and urged a sewer asset‑management program, continued flow monitoring to capture targeted storm events, staff training on the hydraulic model and periodic recalibration.
Council members thanked the consultant and asked questions about design assumptions and next steps; consultants said the model is a living tool to be updated as more data arrive and recommended integrating model results into a long‑term CIP and reporting to TCEQ where necessary.
What’s next: consultants recommended staff develop a prioritized CIP, continue targeted flow monitoring and consider annual recalibration; staff will return with programmatic recommendations and projects for council consideration.
