Elkhart breaks new ground on project
ELKHART — City leaders have launched a sewer separation project designed to bring cleaner water and streets to the community.
The project is part of the Aspire Elkhart program, the biggest era of infrastructure investment in city’s history, officials said.
“This project is oriented toward separating our sewer, which is heading toward our wastewater treatment plant, and our stormwater, currently in a combined pipe,” city Utility Engineer Paul Wunderlich said.
During rainwater events, the combined effluent from the combined pipe overflows into the river.
The project will cost $5.5 million and will include 1,500 feet of sanitary main. The project’s primary purpose will be to install a high-capacity stormwater pipe to receive flow from the Benham Avenue area.
“The EPA required that we separate these pipes, so there’s now going to be two separate pipes,” Wunderlich said. “We will be building a new outfall that is storm-only into the river.”
The section of 72-inch storm pipe will be the largest diameter pipe installed in Elkhart in over 50 years.
Residents should expect construction to interrupt transit on High Street all the way to the west end of High Street, where it terminates at the river to 3rd Street. Construction should last through the end of November.
Closures will also extend down 5th Street and down Franklin and all the way to 4th, Wunderlich said.
