Cost to separate sewers in one Batavia neighborhood? $3.9 million, estimated
Separating stormwater and sanitary sewers in a west side neighborhood will cost Batavia about $3.9 million.
Aldermen learned that Tuesday during a report from an engineer from Rempe-Sharpe and Associates, a company hired to study the area.
Rempe-Sharpe studied a 53-acre area, generally bounded by Union, Garfield and Harrison streets and Batavia Avenue.
In 2008, a consultant told the city that it would cost an estimated $8 million to $9 million to separate sewers in three areas in the city.
The neighborhood's sewers are about 60 years old, built during a time when it was common to combine them. But in the 1990s, the Environmental Protection Agency established guidelines that discourage using combined sewers, to reduce pollutants being released into lakes and rivers.
Having separate pipes would reduce the amount of sewage being treated at the sanitary sewage treatment plant, because the sewage from the neighborhood would not contain stormwater.
It would also cut down on sanitary sewage backing up into houses during storms, as the pipes would not be filled by rainwater. Angry residents criticized the city in June 2015 when that happened for the fourth time in 10 years.
The existing sanitary sewers would stay. Storm sewers would be added. Rempe-Sharpe recommends putting them under the middle of the streets, to minimize conflicts with trees and other utility lines in the parkways.
The $3.9 million would include design and construction work.
The project could be broken into phases.
In August, aldermen were told that it would cost at least $2.1 million to alleviate stormwater flooding in an eastern neighborhood near Kirk Road.
The next step is for city officials to decide whether they want to include money in next year's budget for any of the work. The council will discuss the budget in November and approve it in December.