The Bloomington City Council met on Monday night and approved $1.43 million of Sewer Maintenance work. It awarded the contract to Hoerr Construction. Insituform Technologies also bid on the project. The project will install 21 thousand feet (four miles) of cured-in-place pipe lining (CIPP). According to the council report, “The CIPP sewer lining process involves inverting or pulling a resin-saturated tube made of polyester, fiberglass cloth, or other materials into an existing pipe and curing the resin with hot water or steam to form a tight-fitting, corrosion-resistant pipe. Sewers requiring CIPP liners were selected for rehabilitation, based on review and recommendations by RJN Group, a City engineering consultant.”
Cities 92.9 spoke with City of Bloomington Director of Public Works Kevin Kothe who said, “It’s a positive thing we are doing and it ultimately saves the people money by extending the life of the sewer line.”
According to the council report, “The average point repair can cost $15,000 or more, and the City could line over 430 feet of 8” sewer with the same money.” That’s saying you could line a whole block with what it would cost to repair a single break along the block.
Hoerr Construction is based in Goodfield, IL. According to the Hoerr website, Hoerr Construction president Max Hoerr II continues the family legacy begun in 1914 when his grandfather, Philipp J. Hoerr, established P.J. Hoerr. And, “In 1994 Max spun off from P.J. Hoerr with the entire underground division, to begin Hoerr Construction, Inc.” Insituform is a world wide company based in Chesterfield (St. Louis) Missouri. There were no “local” bidders for this project so no one received the local bid preference.
Hoerr outbid Insituform with a low bid of $1.49 million. Insituform bid $1.91 million. The difference is $420,000. That’s an excellent example of why it is important to get more than one bid on public projects.
According to their website the RJN Group is, “A professional engineering and pipeline condition assessment specialist serving communities across the country by extending and restoring the useful service life of sewer, water, and storm water assets.” They serve Illinois through their Cincinnati, Ohio office.
Most of the work will be done in parts of town that predate World War I. The area is generally bounded by Union Pacific Railroad on the west, the Town of Normal on the north and Veterans Parkway on the east and south. Veterans Parkway was constructed in 1941 as a two lane “bypass” and at the time was “way out in the country.”
Some of the pipes being lined are over 100 years old dating back to the 1890’s. With the lining they are expected to last another 100 years.
Construction projects like this typically start within 30 days of council approval when the contractor receives a “Notice to Proceed” from the city. Contractors typically like to complete projects like this before winter if they can. But this contract does allow 240 calendar days to be completed so that allows the contractor to work through winter months if necessary.
These sewers are being lined because they are at an extremely high risk for failure. The City uses the NASSCO Pipeline Assessment Certification Program (PACP). It considers, “criteria as: Consequences of Failure (COF), PACP structural assessment or Likelihood of Failure (LOF), and the location of the sewer under major City routes,” according to the council report. This sewer rehabilitation contract will address approximately 21,000 feet of pipes with scores of five, which is the worst rating possible
Bloomington has also televised approximately 250 miles of the 335 miles of combo and sanitary sewers using CCTV. That represents about 75% of the cities sanitary sewer lines. Videoing allows staff and consultants to determine the condition of the existing sewer system and prioritize sewers to be lined. It is the equivalent to driving roads when evaluating a pavement resurfacing program using the eye test.
The council report says, “RJN was hired by the City to evaluate and make recommendations after reviewing over 300,000 feet (about 57 miles) of closed-circuit television (CCTV) sewer videos. The CCTV sewer videos evaluated by RJN were developed through the City’s annual CCTV contract.”
Unfortunately Bloomington will still have 38,000 feet of sewer lines rated at five after this project is completed. If current funding levels continue these pipes will not be addressed next year. Bloomington could increase its budget for sewer rehabilitation to 2.59 million next year and repair all those pipes. That would also get the funding level closer to the 2014 City of Bloomington Stormwater and Sanitary Sewer Master Plans recommended spending level of $3.25 million annually to rehabilitate the City’s sewer system.
“More could be done,” Kothe said. “We could use more money to help.”
Kothe asked us to share a tip with residents who may have work done in their area. According to him, because the pipe liner is soaked in resin, it has a smell. In the past the smell has come up into resident’s homes through pipes that don’t have any water in them. Kothe recommends residents pour a little water in pipes that may be dry such as basement drains. Doing so will reduce the potential for this to happen.
