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Bloomfield council weighs three sewer-repair options, costs range from about $22,000 to $300,000+
Summary
City staff outlined three approaches to repeated basement sewer backups on a mid-block clay main: a $22,000 cured-in-place liner, a full new 8-inch main through yards (≈$220,000), or a longer reroute to a deeper Davis Street main (estimated $300,000+). Council asked staff to gather easements, camera mapping and homeowner input before deciding.
City staff told the Bloomfield City Council that repeated sewer backups on a mid-block clay line will require either a targeted liner, a full replacement of the main, or a longer reroute to a deeper sewer, with widely different price tags and tradeoffs.
Staff described three options: install a cured-in-place liner from Columbia Street to the mid‑block manhole — a fix the presentation described as costing about $22,000 and expected to extend the pipe’s service life for roughly 30 years; bore and install a new 8‑inch main through the yards with three new manholes and individual laterals to each house (staff estimated about $220,000); or reroute west to the deeper Davis Street main, a longer and deeper installation staff estimated would cost at least $300,000. The staff presentation emphasized that the smaller liner would smooth existing laterals and could be done sooner, while the larger options would serve the entire block but require more excavation, easements and higher cost.
Council members pressed staff on homeowner impacts and legal/maintenance questions. The council and staff said existing public maps are incomplete, so the city cannot be certain how private laterals tie together without camera inspections and exploratory digging. Staff noted camera work to date shows repeated plugged laterals as the common immediate problem, not a plugged 6‑inch city main, and warned that installing a liner now and later replacing the main with an 8‑inch would likely require removing and discarding the liner — effectively wasting the liner expenditure if full replacement follows.
Members asked whether property owners would be compelled to connect to a new main and who would own and maintain new laterals. Staff responded that homeowners own their laterals to the city main and that, in projects the city has done previously, freshly installed laterals were turned over to homeowners to maintain after a defined warranty or hand‑over period. Councilors also discussed grinder pumps and small lift stations as lower‑cost homeowner options; staff said such pumps run roughly $5,000 each and a small municipal lift station has been about $15,000 in prior projects, making them cheaper in some scenarios than reconstructing the entire block.
Given the range of costs and the uncertain lateral ownership, the council directed staff to gather more information: do camera inspections of the private laterals, map exact connections, identify required easements across neighboring properties, and hold a meeting with affected property owners before committing funds. Staff noted that budget timing likely places any major construction in the next fiscal year and the council said it would be reluctant to spend the larger sums without broader homeowner buy‑in.
The council did not vote on a preferred option during the meeting; staff will return with additional mapping, easement analysis and refined cost estimates.
