Fairhope plans sewer improvements with RESTORE money

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City officials said they hope to submit plans to the Alabama Department of Conservation this month for approval.

During a City Council work session Aug. 23, Mayor Sherry Sullivan said city officials have been working to acquire the funds.

“This is the $10 million RESTORE project to upgrade the sewer, manholes that people always ask questions about,” Sullivan said. “They want to know where we are on it. This is where we are. The restore act creates a process that’s somewhat cumbersome and lengthy, but hopefully we are getting to the finish line.”

Andy Bobe, project manager for Dewberry Engineers, said three sewer system projects are planned using the funds.

The projects include lift station rehabilitation with multiple lift stations around the city being improved or replaced.

The city will also improve manholes and sewage storage throughout the system, he said.

“The scope describes 280 different manholes and 42,000 feet of gravity sewer to be rehabbed. With those three projects we’ve identified submitted scopes of work on the side-stream storage and the lift station rehab,” Bobe said.

He said planners have also submitted needed documents to environmental and historical agencies needed for approval.

“The good news is we’re approximately 70 to 75 percent complete with the construction plans for all three projects and our goal is to start submitting those within the next two weeks and probably by mid-September we’ll have all three submitted to ADCNR for review,” Bobe said.

Bobe said planners hope to have the projects ready to be put out to bid by the end of October, but the schedule will now depend on the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

He said the projects will increase the capacity of the sewerage system and reduce overflows. New pipes will also reduce the amount of stormwater that flows into the sewers and has to be treated at the plants.

Council President Jack Burrell said stormwater flowing into the sewer system overwhelms the system.

“Most of our problems seem to occur when we have storms,” Burrell said. “If you could solve the freshwater infiltration, your pumps, your side-stream storage, your lift stations are not overwhelmed. That’s when everything seems to fail.”

Jason Langley, city water and sewer director, said many of Fairhope’s sewer pipes in older parts of the municipality are clay lines that are more than 50 years old. Over time, the lines crack, allowing rainwater flowing through the soil to enter the system.

“A lot of the old part of town is clay pipe and clay pipe with ground movement splits and it acts like a French drain so when we have heavy rains, we get infiltration.” Langley said.

“With age and infrastructure and materials you used back in the 50s and 60s, some even into the 70s they used clay pipe,” he added.

The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act, or RESTORE Act, allows environmental penalties from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to be used for projects in areas affected by the spill.