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Engineer outlines multi-community sewer lining plan, proposes scaled local scope
Summary
Burrows Engineering presented results of a multi-community sewer-lining contract and proposed a narrowed local project focusing on larger trunk lines and optional manhole work to reduce costs; staff will return with engineering proposals and televising options.
Brad Lawrence, an engineer with Burrows Engineering, told the council the firm helped organize a multi-community sewer lining project that completed roughly 33,000 feet of lining and rehabilitated about 100 manholes this year. He said the contractor HydroKleen’s winning bid was far lower than the engineering estimate, prompting a new look at a smaller, lower-cost scope for the city.
Lawrence said his initial estimate for the local portion was calculated from the larger project with a 10% inflation allowance. To reduce cost estimates, he proposed removing 8-inch lines from the first pass and focusing on 10- and 12-inch trunk lines that carry most flow, and treating manholes as an optional add-on if budget allows. "We look at the bigger stuff first," Lawrence said, explaining that main arteries typically admit more groundwater and yield greater benefit when lined.
Council members asked technical and scheduling questions, including whether manhole work should coincide with road resurfacing and whether televising lines for condition assessment would be needed. Lawrence said manhole lining is more time-consuming — about three days per manhole with the lining system used — and that removing manholes from the package could reduce engineering and construction-management time. He recommended staff commission engineering plans and condition ratings and said the firm could include the cost of televising lines in a proposal.
Lawrence also described the benefits of bundling multiple small communities into a single contract to lower mobilization costs and make the work economically viable for towns with short runs of lining. He said the contractor is eager to repeat the work and that his team would return with a proposal for engineering services and, if requested, a televise-and-assess option.
The council did not take a final vote on the project but asked staff to bring a proposal and scope to the next meeting for prioritization and budgeting.
