By Mai Ling Slaughter, The Chronicle, The Chronicle, 7/21/99
With Centralia lacking money to fix all the aging pipes in its sewer system, the city's consultants recommend it simply try to build a new wastewater treatment plant that can process the problems.
At a city council work session Tuesday night, David Reynolds, with CH2M Hill, said the city would need an estimated $22 million to repair the old, cracked pipes in the system.
CH2M Hill estimates the new wastewater treatment plant at more than $30 million.
"It is more cost-effective to build a treatment plant to handle the flow," Reynolds said, adding the city will still need to maintain the system to prevent sewer collapses, or sinkholes.
When the pipes - some which are up to 80 years old - are cracked or broken, groundwater leaks into the system, adding to what the aged wastewater treatment plant has to process.
Reynolds showed a series of graphs depicting similarities between levels of the Chehalis River and the amount of wastewater arriving at the plant at different times of the year.
Both levels increased and decreased at the same times, meaning a large portion of what the plant is processing is groundwater.
"Under normal flow conditions, there is lots of capacity in the sewer system," he said. "Except when there's lots and lots of groundwater."
Rocks, gravel and other debris also are carried into the plant, adding to the sludge that needs to be processed as well.
Jim Fleming, wastewater operations manager, began the presentation with photos of sinkholes caused by eroding pipes, or when old joints connecting pipes pop out.
"If we can catch these hot spots," he said, "we can make a much bigger bang for the buck."
He said Utilities employees spend a great deal of time patching problems after they occur, rather than finding time to fix them beforehand.
Reynolds said fixing pipes prior to an emergency situation could cost one-third to one-10th less to repair.
But first, employees need to know where the problems are, which they are doing by monitoring the pipes to determine where the larger leaks are.
CH2M Hill also recommended the city regularly clean, inspect and repair the pipes.
"We want to be sure it works not only for today," Reynolds said, "but for the future."
Just fewer than 6,000 households are connected to the city's sewer system.
Mai Ling Slaughter covers municipal government for The Chronicle. She can be reached by e-mail at news@chronline.com or by telephoning 807-8237.
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