SPRINGDALE -- The Water and Sewer Commission said Wednesday it wants more information before committing to the location and size of a storm sewer storage tank for the Clear Creek Lift Station.
Completion of the station's expansion should help alleviate concerns about sewer capacity in the east side of town, said Rick Pulvirenti, chief engineer and chief operating officer of Springdale Water Utilities.
"We have put this project on the fast track to get engineering done in six months and construction finished in a year," said Heath Ward, executive director of Springdale Water Utilities.
Ward in February 2020 said the utility might need to place a moratorium on residential development in the southeastern part of town if sewer upgrades were not made.
The utility has been working with developers to avoid a moratorium, Pulvirenti said.
The commission oversees Springdale Water Utilities, which provides water and sewer services to the city and some surrounding towns. Members are appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council.
Brad Hammond, an engineer with the Olsson engineering firm, said land just east of Butterfield Coach Road at Spring Creek Avenue might be the best location for the storage tank. The land is south of the lift station, which is near the intersection of Old Missouri Road and Electric Avenue.
The land considered for the storage tank is owned by the city, though construction might call for a small easement on adjoining industrial property, Hammond said.
Most of the land surrounding the location has developed with multi-family residential units, and the city also owns the land immediately south of the site, he said.
Water utility officials and city staff have discussed building a tank there, Ward said.
"We want the city to do everything it can to ensure development continues on the east side of town," said Colby Fulfer, chief of staff for Mayor Doug Sprouse.
Chris Dougherty, also an engineer with Olsson, presented two options for tanks on the preferred property.
The first would be a round tank, 130 feet in diameter and 23 feet deep. This would use gravity to fill the tank, but water would need to be pumped out into the city's sewer system bound for the Waste Water Treatment Plant, he said. Construction is estimated early in this design process at $11 million.
The second option would be a 130-foot diameter tank at 29 feet deep. The tank would be filled by pumps, but released to flow with gravity. The estimated cost is $7.8 million, Dougherty said.
The cost estimates don't include removing rock from the site, Hammond said.
And that's what the commission wants to know before making a decision, said Chris Weiser, chairman of the Water and Sewer Commission.
The company soon will start boring and doing geotechnical tests to determine the type of rock at the site and the cost to remove it, Hammond said.
Hammond said either tank would have a poured-concrete shaft and an aluminum dome, similar to the geodesic structure at the Johnson Lift Station. The tank could also be completely buried with a hatch for maintenance access, Dougherty said.
Pulvirenti said both tanks would hold 1.5 million gallons.
"Neighbors should not realize the tank is there once construction is complete," Pulvirenti said.
The tank will emit no noise or smell, he said. Water will not puddle on the surface near the lift station or the tank, he said.
The tank would sit empty without rainfall, he said. It would hold excess water during a rain and release it slowly in one or two days.
Pulvirenti said a rain with a tremendous amount of water would exceed the lift station's capacity, causing the station to overflow.
"You can increase capacity economically by increasing storage," he said.