Material delays slowing RWRA combined sewer projects

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·2 min read

Jun. 23—More homes within the city are expected to be removed from the combined sewer and stormwater system before the end of the year.

According to Sean O'Bryan, Regional Water and Resource Agency director of engineering, the endeavor, however, has been moving slower than expected because of lack of materials.

One of those projects is the pump station and force main upgrade at Lafayette Drive, which O'Bryan said has been bid out, but the contractor has faced delays in getting materials for the job.

"So right now, we are looking at not starting this project until September," said O'Bryan who shared the latest updates on the agency's current Long Term Control Plan projects with members of the Stormwater Quality Advisory Committee Tuesday. "Hopefully the pumps will be in and they can then upgrade the pump station and make the force main connection."

By doing this, the equivalent of 524 homes will be redirected from the combined sewer system over to a separate sanitary sewer system. It will then be pumped to the David W. Hawes water reclamation facility, at 1722 Pleasant Valley Road.

"If they start in September, this project should be done by November," O'Bryan said.

Work on RWRA's Baybrook Street intercepter project began last week, which will take the equivalent of 90 homes off the agency's combined sewer system.

"We are redirecting all these homes to off of Carter Road, which is a separate sanitary sewer system," O'Bryan said. "This will go to our Max Roads Treatment Plant. ...This project also takes off one inlet that was tied into our system and redirects it to a separate system to the Carter Road ditch."

O'Bryan said RWRA is still in the design phase of its Parkway Drive project, which the agency hopes to begin during the current fiscal-year.

"We are going to do away with that pump station and make it a gravity all the way over to Horse Fork Intercepter," he said. "What this does is it allows us to take more wastewater off the combined sewer system and redirect it to a separate sanitary system."

O'Bryan said most of RWRA's Long Term Plan Control Plan projects are designed to remove wastewater off the combined sewer system, which minimizes the bacteria going out to the Ohio River in addition to redirecting stormwater.

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837

Nathan Havenner, Messenger-Inquirer, nhavenner@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-228-2837