City hears need for water system upgrade, receives sewer repair bid

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Fort Scott City Commissioners on Tuesday approved several measures to make water and sewer improvements.

Director of Public Utilities Michael Mix reported the booster pump station located at Fort Scott Community College is in need of an update. Mix said the station is a “crucial installation” which serves the city’s south water tower and the entire high-pressure side of the city’s potable water distribution system.

“It’s very important,” he said.

The area served includes Mercy Hospital, the Fort Scott Industrial Park, several businesses and residents along the U.S. Highway 69 corridor, and a supply point for Bourbon County Rural Water District No. 2. The station, installed in 1970, needs an update, especially improvements to electrical systems which includes the installation of a permanent standby generator for emergency power outages.

“It’s had some very minor updates along the way, but it’s very well maintained,” Mix said.

Mix said the project has been engineered by the firm of Allgeier Martin and Associates and is ready to go out to bid. Commissioners approved Mix’s request to seek bids for the update.

The engineer’s estimate for the improvements is just under $245,000. The cost is included in the city’s budget, according to city information.

Commissioners also approved a bid of $176,500 from UCI in Wichita for solid handling and disinfection feed improvements at the city’s water treatment plant on Burke Street. This cost is also included in the city’s budget.

Mix said this project has been put out to bid three times. The first time, in April 2016, bids were rejected as they were over the engineer’s estimate of $100,000. Bids went out again in August 2016 and no bids were received. The UCI bid, originally $213,740, was the only bid received this round, and was lowered to $176,500, Mix said.

“They were able to get the price down by using local electrical contractors,” he said. “This really needs to get done. I’ve been fighting it a long time.”

Sludge produced by the water plant was meant to go to two small lagoons located on Heylman Street between Park Avenue and Eighth Street. These lagoons are severely undersized and the city has been forced to send the lagoon effluence to the sanitary sewer. This can create problems if the receiving sewer main is overwhelmed with too much flow, according to information from Mix.

If this condition occurs, several downstream customers experience sewer backing up into their homes or businesses. Therefore, a gate valve was provided for operators to help regulate the flow from the lagoons into the sewer. The valve helps, but the design of the current system still allows room for error.

In addition to the threat of sewers’ backing up, the lagoons also catch rain water which is fed directly into the sewers. That contributes to the sanitary sewer inflow problems and increases pumping cost.