NEW SEWER PROPOSALS IN BLUE VALLEY


Introduction/Background

The Johnson County Wastewater Districts are pursuing three new sewer projects in Blue Valley:

A little over a year ago Blue River Sewer Study Area #14 was presented by the Districts for consideration by Blue Valley residents. The watershed for this district was generally south of 159th Street, extending from around Nall to west of Antioch . Two parties particularly interested in this project were Section S17, which was the most heavily populated residential area affected, and the Blue Valley School District, which needs the sewer system for the new schools.

The results of the postcard survey for #14 in terms of both people and land was overwhelming: 90% of the residents in Section S17 responded and 90% were opposed . Most of the large landowners outside of Section S17 also opposed the project, so it failed decisively for the entire watershed. At the time there was an agreement that Section S17 would be excluded from the proposed sewer district if the rest of the landowners petitioned for it.

In spite of the survey, the school district still needs the sewers and Johnson County has on file complaints about septic systems by some residents of Section S17. The Districts feel that the original proposal may have been rejected because of its high cost. Two of the new proposals address these and other issues.

Grinder Pump System For Section S17, Oxford Township

The proposal about to be presented in public meetings is strictly for Section S17, Oxford Township. Another post card survey, which will be made after the meetings, will determine whether the proposal will be pursued. This proposal is based on grinder pumps; last year's proposal depended on gravity sewers. Gravity sewers are just that: water flows through them to treatment plants because of the force of gravity - there are no pumps.

The grinder pump system depends on a small grinder pump being placed at each house. The system pumps sewage from the house to pipes laid under the street rights of way. This system has several advantages over the gravity system:

There are also drawbacks relative to a gravity system:

What A Grinder Pump System Is And How It Works

Each grinder pump [see photos] is buried about 10 feet from the house in a hole about 9 feet deep. The hole includes a 60 gallon well at the bottom, then the pump compartment, about 6 feet of dead space, and the cover at ground level.

The grinder and the pump turn on automatically as needed to thoroughly grind the sewage in the well and pump it out. The capacity of the well will handle a typical household for about 12 hours. The machinery is effective and fast, so the pump only comes on a few times each day and runs for only a few minutes. According to Rob Miller, Planning/Project Engineer for the Waste Water Department, the machinery is very quiet when operating, cannot be heard inside the house at all, and only vibrations could be felt by someone standing on the cover while the machinery is operating.

The ground up sewage is pumped out to the street and then eventually flows through pipes to the sewage treatment plant.

What Happens If The Electricity Goes Out?

In rare circumstances (such as this last fall's heavy snowfall), neighborhoods can lose power for an extended period of time. Although a grinder pump system starting with an empty well could service a typical family for about 12 hours, the County wants to avoid a situation where a prolonged outage results in sewage backing up into houses. The County proposes to purchase a truck with an electric generator which would visit neighborhoods during an outage. The truck would stop at each house, connect to the pump system, and empty the pump well of sewage.

The Cost Of The Grinder Pump System

To arrive at the cost of $8,500 per household, the Waste Water Department selected a test neighborhood, developed requirements, and requested construction firms to submit "bids" for a grinder pump system for the neighborhood. These "bids" were actually non-binding estimates, since the system would not actually be installed in the test neighborhood based on the bidding.

The initial bids were higher than expected, so a second round of bidding involving more firms and modified requirements took place. This bidding was more in line with what the County and the manufacturer of the pump system expected. In fact, the final cost of the grinder pump system might be less than the bids, since these were estimates only, not a competition to get actual work.

Installation costs include laying the sewer lines under the street rights of way; the pumps and their complete installation; and connecting the house to the street sewer lines. No additional work would be needed [in the last proposal, the homeowner would pay a plumber about $1,500 to connect the house to the sewer pipes].

There would be an additional annual fee of approximately $30 per year. Electricity cost to run the machinery at each house is estimated to be $10/year.

If the system is successfully petitioned in, all residents will have to pay the same costs, whether or not they hook up to the system. The rationale is that:

Next Steps

The steps leading to the installation of the system in our neighborhoods are:

For more information on sewer projects, contact Rob Miller, Planning/Project Engineer for the Waste Water Department. He provided most of the information for this article. You may also see sewer topics discussed on the Waste Water Department's home page at www.jcw.org.

See also:


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