MANISTEE — There are three projects currently underway that will address problems with the Manistee sewers and the waste water treatment plant.
These projects will be completed by next August, according to Manistee Department of Public Works Director Jeff Mikula.
In an email with the News Advocate, Mikula said, "The city has three projects under construction in order to complete our Wet Weather Corrective Action Program. The three projects total over $19,000,000. When completed, the wet weather flows will be transported to the treatment plant and when necessary be able to store and later treat up to 6 million gallons. The projects should be completed by next August."
That being said, there's still quite a bit of work to be done.
Rick Mohr, the deputy director of DPW and the lead on the sewer projects, noted when asked questions about the timeline for the project, and whether it was being built in stages that, "The project is not broken down into specific stages. We are still in the early stages of construction."
He said construction is on schedule.
"The overflow tanks have not been constructed yet. The contractor is primarily working on the lower level of the new headworks building. Some underground piping for the overflow tanks has been installed but work on the actual tanks will not start for a couple of weeks yet."
The three projects include building three above ground tanks, construction a new conveyance pipeline and a new "headworks" and storage facility at the wastewater treatment plant, located at 15 Ninth St. in Manistee. A previous News Advocate article noted that, "Headworks refers to the first stage of wastewater treatment, which gets rid of enough of the pollutants in incoming wastewater to allow it to be discharged into a nearby body of water, according to Water & Wastes Digest."
The overall project’s official title is the “Wet Weather Corrective Action Program.” Phase 1 involved lining the sanitary sewers and manholes and constructing a storm sewer. In March, that phase was said to be “substantially completed.”
Mohr also noted that, "The project will correct problems we are currently having. Over the weekend we ended up discharging 2.193 million gallons of diluted raw sewage into Lake Manistee. We are installing three retention tanks that will hold 2 million gallons each for a total of 6 million gallons. This water will be stored in these tanks until we are able to treat it. If these tanks would have been installed by now there would have been no overflow this past weekend. This project is very good for Manistee."
The overflow problems in Manistee are not new and have been an issue for decades. A previous News Advocate article noted that, "In the past 30 years, Manistee has invested nearly $40 million to eliminate raw sewage discharges to the Manistee River. The city closed 18 combined sewer overflows, however, it still faces infiltration and inflow problems."
In fact, since the sewer system was built in the 1880s, sewage has been flowing into both the Manistee River and Manistee Lake.
"The sewage has been going to the Manistee Lake and Manistee River for 120 years. It has been reduced considerably year after year for the past 40 years — and now it only happens when we get approaching a 1-inch rain,” Mikula said.
Despite the overflow problems, they have not reached an E. coli level that is considered illegal or problematic. A reading of 300 or below per 100 ml, is within what is considered the maximum allowable level. In the most recent overflow this past weekend, the highest reading of E. coli was at the Ninth Street Boat Launch with 119 per 100 ml.
In contrast, a recent closure at Beulah Beach on Aug. 18 showed 547 colonies per 100/ml.
RELATED:
More than 2 million gallons of diluted raw sewage overflow into Manistee Lake
What Phase 2 of the sewer construction project will entail
MAP: This is where Manistee tests for E. coli after sanitary sewer overflow event
Manistee's wastewater processes have faced changes, challenges over the last 140 years
"later" - Google News
September 02, 2021 at 05:11PM
https://ift.tt/38wkF8G
140-plus years later, Manistee sewer to change its flow - Manistee News Advocate
"later" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KR2wq4
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "140-plus years later, Manistee sewer to change its flow - Manistee News Advocate"
Post a Comment