Mount Prospect officials studying how to fund sewer repairs
Mount Prospect is considering taking a similar approach to its combined sewers that it took with its roads, attacking the problems on the front end to avoid the need for drastic fixes on the back end.
This week, Public Works Director Sean Dorsey addressed a joint meeting of the village board and the finance commission to discuss future funding for combined sewer maintenance.
The village has been funding maintenance since 2006 with a sewer infrastructure fee, which has generated $800,000 annually. The funds are provided by a charge of $5 per month per sewer service line to each water/sewer customer.
That fee is scheduled to sunset in January.
Dorsey requested that the fee be continued, saying, "In our opinion, it looks like the need is still there. It's still rather significant."
Trustee Paul Hoefert agreed and took it one step further, saying, "Like the road program, we have got to stay ahead of the stuff getting really bad." He said the village should be lining the pipes that are in good condition but could fail in the future, in addition to those in the worst condition.
The finance commission will take a look at funding, including attacking the problem more aggressively. Commission Chairman Vince Grochocinski suggested raising the fee from $5 to $6 or $7 to capture additional funds.
Since the early 2000s, the village has been doing ongoing monitoring and maintenance of its combined sewers, lines built of reinforced concrete and clay that handle both stormwater from the streets and wastewater from the homes.
In 2004, a study identified about $15 million worth of combined sewer repair work that should be done. The village has 260,000 lineal feet of combined sewers, most installed between the 1920s and 1950s. They have a life of about 50 years.
Sewers were evaluated on a scale of 1 through 5, with Grade 5 being the worst.
From 2006 through 2013, the village spent more than $7 million to rehabilitate its Grade 4 and Grade 5 sewers, as well as a portion of its Grade 3 sewers, installing a cured-in-place pipe consisting of a resin-impregnated flexible liner onto damaged pipes. Dorsey said repair of all of the lines with Grade 4 and Grade 5 defects has been completed.
"It essentially forms a new pipe within a pipe," Dorsey said. "It's extremely effective, works great. It's cost-effective. "
Dorsey said, however, that many of the sewers that were OK in 2005 have now degraded to the extent that they will need to be repaired.
In 2014, Dorsey said, consulting engineer Baxter and Woodman of Crystal Lake was hired to restudy the sewers, which were televised by Visu-Sewer Illinois of Bridgeview, with the result that $15 million in rehabilitation costs were identified for sewers in grades 3, 4 and 5.
Mayor Arlene Juracek said the results presented were not unexpected, saying, "You do expect over time for those sewers to begin deteriorating."
Hoefert said, "If we can get ahead of the sewers before they turn into 3s and 4s and 5s and line them, theoretically, they might never fail. The cured-in-place seems to be lasting a long, long time."