By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
Hays city commissioners are in the process of approving a $30,000 contract to rehabilitate approximately 19 manholes throughout the city, and they hope to do the same to more in the future. Commissioners discussed the project at Thursday night’s city commission meeting.
According to Utilities Director Bernie Kitten, corrosion in the manholes is caused by a chemical process, mainly the creation of hydrogen sulfide, in the wastewater system. Physical damage, soil erosion and water damage also cause the lining inside the holes to break down. If the lining is not rehabilitated, it could cause the manhole to collapse, which according to Kitten, could leave a large part of the city without sewer service.
“If we have a hole collapse that is 20 feet deep, the city does not have the resources to fix it. We’d have to hire a contractor to come out and fix it and a large part of town would be without sewage,” Kitten said. “If we have to go into replace one, it would cost $1,000 per foot and a street would have to be blocked off for three weeks.”
The city identified 19 manholes within the city that have the strongest need for rehabilitation. According to Kitten, some of the holes that will be fixed during this cycle were the holes closest to the sewerage plant on the Old 40 Bypass.
“We selected those because, if any of those collapse, the town won’t have sewerage,” Kitten said.
If approved, there are five other holes close to the wastewater treatment plant that won’t be treated due to the fact that they have major implications on how the revised wastewater treatment plant will be constructed.
When a request for proposals was sent out, Utilities Solutions LLC submitted the low bid of $97 per vertical foot. The rehabilitation process includes spraying and smoothing the walls down with a 1-inch coating.
The contract will also cost the city $1,500 for travel, $475 for the installation of each drop structure, and $290 for the instillation of each new iron ring and cover, which some holes will not need. If a ring and/or cover does need replaced, the city will supply it and the cost will be for labor. There is also an option in the contract for Utilities Solutions to continue the work in future years at an inflation rate of no more than 2 percent. Once the work is done, the manholes will have a lifespan of around 50 years, according to Kitten.
“$30,000 is actually pretty low when you look at what’s required for annual maintenance,” City Manager Toby Dougherty said.
Commissioners brought up concerns about the other manholes that needed to be rehabilitated during their work session and the cost associated with them. The city has identified approximately 320 man holes that are “high priority” during its sewer cleaning project.
“(The cost for that is going to have to come from (sewerage) rates,” City Manager Toby Dougherty said. “We’re also going to have to figure out how to replace the sewer lines like we’re supposed to. We have 130 miles of sewer lines and we don’t have a sewer line replacement program like we do with the water lines, so we have old sewer lines that are going to need to be replaced.”
Mayor Henry Schwaller suggested creating a strategy so the commission can “move forward in a way that makes sense.”
“If you just do the math, that’s 35 or 36 manholes you would need to replace a year in order to keep up,” Dougherty said. “If we’re doing 19 right now, that’s probably a little low so we probably need to do a little more. But once we get ahead of the curve, we won’t have to do that many.”
Commissioners will consider the contract at next week’s regular meeting.