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Last updated on Tuesday, April 25, 2017
(BLOOMINGTON) - The City of Bloomington Utilities Service Board has approved a $6.9 million project for improvements to the aging infrastructure of the South Central Interceptor Sewer, located along South Walnut Street from Davis Street to Gordon Pike.
The majority of the work will take place in the future Switchyard Park property and should be completed by December when park construction is scheduled to begin. Work outside the future park property should be completed by August 2018.
Sanitary sewer overflows have been problematic in this area. Between 2006 and 2016 there were 83 overflows at the intersection of Grimes Lane and South Walnut Street.
Greeley & Hansen designed the new sewer and Infrastructure System of Orleans, IN has been retained to construct it, beginning in May.
Sanitary sewers, some of which date as far back as 1910, primarily consist of clay pipe and can date all the way back to 1910. When the groundwater level is at or above the sewer elevation, the joints in the older clay pipes are not sufficiently watertight to prevent the infiltration of stormwater and an overflow can occur.
"The infrastructure upgrades to the South Central Interceptor strengthen the area and will eliminate the chronic sanitary sewer overflow location near Grimes Lane," said CBU Director Vic Kelson. "Also, this is critical infrastructure to support Switchyard Park and the increase in commerce we expect along this corridor in the coming years."
All of the homes and businesses in central Bloomington south of 11th Street discharge to this interceptor, which carries wastewater to the Dillman Wastewater Treatment Plant. The total length of new sewer main to be installed is 12,000 feet, and 9800 feet of that length has a diameter of 42 inches.
For more information, visit bloomington.in.gov/utilities or find City of Bloomington Utilities on facebook.
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