Harbor Springs officials hear warning on aging Ford Park lift station and 1972 force main; feasibility study ordered

Harbor Springs officials were warned at Monday's council meeting that the city’s Ford Park lift station and roughly three miles of 1972 asbestos-cement force main are at or past their expected service life and need planned replacement to avoid costly, emergency repairs.

The sewer authority superintendent told the council the Ford Park lift station—installed in 1972 with a control panel moved to the surface in 2011—houses three pumps and serves all wastewater from the city and Harbor Point. “The pumps, the valves, the piping, the wet well, and the generator are all 1972,” he said, adding the original wet-well can—the steel chamber that holds the pumps—was showing corrosion and that the station’s generator dates to 1967.

Why it matters: the force main is asbestos-cement pipe that must remain full to avoid deterioration. When air enters the line, hydrogen sulfide in the flow can convert to sulfuric acid and rapidly degrade the concrete material; portions collapsed before 2020 and were repaired, the superintendent said. He warned that a sudden failure could release hundreds of thousands of gallons and trigger beach closures and state reporting obligations.

Options and costs: the authority has engaged a consulting engineer for a feasibility study and cost analysis. The superintendent outlined three main approaches: 1) cure-in-place lining (which would require costly pump-and-haul operations while work is done), 2) abandoning the old pipe and installing a new force main nearby (likely bored to minimize surface disruption), or 3) incremental repairs and targeted replacements. He said rough industry estimates for pipeline work have ranged from about $1 million to $2 million per mile recently and that a full station-plus-force-main program could total “several million”—engineers’ design-phase estimates will refine the numbers.

Timing and next steps: the superintendent said the feasibility work should return preliminary cost guidance in about six months and that a full design and construction timeline could extend to about one year from start to finish, given the region’s short construction season. Council and staff discussed rate studies, grants and inter-jurisdictional cost shares: the force main is shared with Little Travers Township under an older allocation (the presenter cited a 64/36 split), while the lift station itself is the city’s responsibility.

Council response and planning: members pressed for clarity on funding, rate adjustments and timing. Officials suggested updating service contracts across authority members and exploring grants and rate-study work to build a capital plan rather than waiting for a catastrophic failure. The sewer authority will return with the engineers’ feasibility report and more precise cost estimates for council consideration.

Ending: The council did not authorize construction funding at the meeting; it accepted the sewer authority’s plan to complete feasibility and cost analyses and to report back to the council with recommended next steps.