Saltillo board approves emergency sewer repair
Apr. 13—SALTILLO — Trees that fell into Sand Creek in early March ended up costing the city of Saltillo more than $32,000 in sewer repair bills.
The trees fell into an aging manhole casing, cracking the thinned concrete and causing a major leak in the major sewer line feeding the city's wastewater treatment plant. As a stop gap, the city began pumping the contents of the line to the treatment plant, just a stone's throw away.
Since the break was pilling sewage into Sand Creek, the city declared it an emergency and called in Dale Brock Construction to patch and repair the problem.
While presenting his final bill this week, Brock said since the manhole was not vented, acid gases built up and ate into the concrete pipes and riser, making it incredibly thin.
"In places, the concrete was only a half-inch thick," Brock said. "There was an 18-inch-by-36-inch hole in it. At one point, 1,000-1,300 gallons a minute of raw sewage and waste water from the industrial park were going into the creek."
Workers blocked off the area and packed the hole with heavy clay to prevent leakage while they waited for a new manhole riser to be cast.
The interior of the new riser is coated to prevent chemical erosion of the concrete. Mayor Rex Smith said the area has also been covered in large rocks to protect not only the sewer line, but also that side of Sand Creek.
During a called special meeting on Monday, the board of aldermen voted to pay the bill out of the sewer department reserve fund.
