Sewer Work Continues

City Spending $1 Million Annually To Rehabilitate Pipes

Johnny Lunsford, left, removes the manhole cover while Pat Sharp, both with Rogers Water Utilities, prepares to lower a hose into the sewer line under South Third Street on Friday in Rogers. The Vac-Con system sends water at 60 gallons/minute and 3000 psi of pressure to clean trash and other materials from the sewer line.
Johnny Lunsford, left, removes the manhole cover while Pat Sharp, both with Rogers Water Utilities, prepares to lower a hose into the sewer line under South Third Street on Friday in Rogers. The Vac-Con system sends water at 60 gallons/minute and 3000 psi of pressure to clean trash and other materials from the sewer line.

— Few things last forever. Concrete and clay sewer pipes are among those things that don’t.

Much of the sewer pipe running under city streets in older sections of Rogers are in serious need of rehabilitation, said Rogers Water Utilities officials.

“Some of the pipe has been in the ground since 1923. Most of that is clay pipe, but we have some concrete pipe installed in the 1960s that needs to be rehabbed as well,” said Earl Rausch, utility design engineer.

At A Glance

Preventing Problems

Residents can help prevent clogged sewer lines by remembering a toilet is not trash can.

Things that shouldn’t be flushed:

• Baby diapers

• Baby wipes

• Rags or towels

• Cotton swabs

• Swiffer-type cloths

• Cleaning sponges

• Toys

• Grease

• Plastic items

• Latex gloves

• Sanitary napkins

Source: Rogers Water Utilities

Utilities commissioners, who oversee the operation of the water and sewer department, last year approved spending $1 million a year on sewer line rehabilitation until older sections of the lines are fixed or replaced.

The project for this fiscal year is on Third Street along the railroad tracks from the rear of the National Guard property to Sycamore Street; Fourth Street near the armory property to just south of Willow Street; and a section between Third Street and the railroad track to Second Street.

“We’re doing it different this year,” Rausch said. “Last year we did some spot rehab of lines. This time we’re doing sections, that way we don’t miss anything.”

He said it is hard to keep up with spot rehabs.

“It was not a good system. I think doing a section of town is more efficient,” he said.

Some concrete lines collapsed last year and utility officials had to replace sections of pipe in a hurry to restore service.

“We are trying to get ahead of the situation now. It’s better and, in some cases, less expensive to rehab the lines than it is to dig up a city street, replace a bad section of pipe and then repair the street,” Rausch said.

It costs $255,000 to rehab 5,900 linear feet of pipe, or $43.22 per linear foot.

For $1 million, utility crews can rehab 23,100 linear feet of 8-inch sewer pipe per year, Rausch said.

The cost of digging up and replacing lines would be about the same cost, Rausch said, but the work creates more problems for residents and utility workers.

Johnny Lunsford, sewer supervisor of field operations, and his crews are the front-line workers in the rehab program.

Roots, trash and the deterioration of the clay and concrete in the older lines has to be cleared before the rehab can take place, Lunsford said.

“We run a cleaning blade from one manhole to another through the pipe first to clear the debris, congealed grease, roots or whatever is in the pipe. You would be surprised what people flush into the sewer,” Lunsford said.

Once the pipe has been cleared, a camera is inserted for a visual inspection of the pipe, he said.

“If the pipe isn’t collapsed we use a sock made by Insituform to rehab the line,” Lunsford said.

The Insituform sock is flexible material that can be pulled through the line. Hot water is forced into the pipe to activate the sock material. The hot water causes the sock to swell and place a quarter-inch coating inside the pipe. It’s called cured-in-place pipe, utility officials said.

As the material cools, it forms a hard surface that is expected to last 50 years, said Craig Noble, general manager of the utility.

The cured-in-place pipe is impervious to roots, doesn’t crack and provides a solid surface inside the pipe, he said.

“It’s better than concrete or clay. It’s more like the PVC pipe we use for water and sewer lines today,” Noble said.

PVC is the common term for polyvinyl chloride, a tough synthetic resin, officials said.

Clay and concrete pipe are porous material and are more easily clogged by tree roots, while this isn’t as great a problem for PVC, officials said.

The problem with PVC involves the joints and items flushed down toilets that shouldn’t be, Lunsford said.

If a joint loosens, roots will find a way to get into the pipe searching for moisture, he said.

Residents can help reduce the number of clogs, officials said.

“Don’t pour grease down the drain. As it cools it hardens and traps other material eventually stopping up a line, and then the sewer backs up into the house,” said Lunsford. “And just because a product may say it’s flushable doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t clog a line and cause a blockage that ends up in your sink, bathtub or on the floor.”

“Nobody wants that,” Lunsford said.

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