Sewage Line Leak Requires Quick Solutions
The Barnesville sanitary sewer collection and treatment system was installed 104 years ago in 1922.
At that time, large interlocking clay tile was buried along the very headwaters of the North Fork of Captina Creek in the shallow valley south and east of South Lincoln Avenue down to the treatment plant at the intersection of Slabtown and Cross Roads.
In the intervening decades, the creek has meandered, as creeks do, exposing the tile, and trees have grown over and rooted into the buried tile joints setting the stage for a now needed emergency fix.
The issue was addressed at Monday night’s village council meeting after local contractor, Adam Ackerman, who was consulted by village administrator Roger Deal, reported his findings.
“Several weeks ago we were notified that the main sewer line that goes to the treatment plant was leaking,” Ackerman said.
“Mike Cook brought it to Doug Frye’s attention, and he has since been in contact with the EPA.” Frye is the village’s treatment plant manager.
“We went down and looked and assessed. The stream has moved and eroded away from the the pipe and out from under several trees, one of which has started to fall over and the roots have grown around the pipe,” the contractor said.
“Odds of us breaking that 27-inch clay tile is very likely, and if we break it, we have no control over 600,000 gallons of sewage (daily).”
“Right now the leaking is minimal but it is continuously leaking into the creek and they are monitoring it.”
Ackerman added that the village obtained permission from the Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District to move the creek bed away from the current line and to replace the leaking sections of pipe of about 1,200-feet. The cost of materials alone will run over $167,000, not to mention labor and the cost to develop a service road to the construction site.
“The only option we have to fix it will be to pump the sewage around, create a bypass (from one manhole to another) and lay new pipe.”
Unlike the current short 27-inch tile, the 1,200-foot replacement pipe will consist of 30-foot, 24-inch PVC pipe.
Deal said he would check into any possible grant or emergency money from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC).
Village solicitor Richard Myser was instructed to draft an emergency resolution to move forward with the project for the next council meeting on October 19.
“I don’t want to make this a standard practice, but this may be something we require as an emergency ordinance,” Deal said.
In recent weeks, the village also opted to declare the South Broadway Street paving project an emergency.
Barnesville Area News Needs Your Support!
We're dedicated to providing coverage of the local happenings in Barnesville and the neighboring communities.
As a non-profit entity, we rely on the donations of readers like you.
Make a donation today and you'll be helping keep local news alive in the Barnesville area.