The Chesterton Utility Service Board has rejected all bids for Phase I of
the long term control plan (LTCP), the federal mandate to reduce combined
sewer overflows into the Little Calumet River.
At a special meeting on Monday, members voted unanimously to reject the bids
for Phase 1A, Phase 1B, and Phase 1C.
Associate Town Attorney Chuck Lukmann told the Chesterton Tribune
today that, in general, the bids came in high. The specifications are
currently being tweaked for re-advertisement. A special meeting has been
scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 3, to open the new bids; and one for
6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 6, to award the contracts.
Although the major thrust of the LTCP is the construction of a 1.2-million
gallon storage tank to hold stormwater-diluted wastewater during heavy rain
events until the treatment plant can catch up, the LTCP is comprised of
several other components as well.
The bids rejected on Monday were for three of those ancillary projects: 1A,
improvements at the treatment plant, including the installation of a sludge
thickener and purchase of a new generator; 1B, the rehabilitation and
re-lining of five manholes serving two sanitary sewer lines; and 1C, the
acquisition of a permanent emergency generator at the Westwood Manor lift
station and electrical upgrades at the Golfview Estates and Dogwood lift
stations.
The LTCP is a mandate of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
administered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the
whole point of which is to significantly reduce the amount of sewage which
the Utility is forced to release into the Little Cal River during heavy
rains.
Those sewage releases are more technically known as combined sewage
overflows and they’re caused by unseparated sanitary and stormwater systems,
or else by the infiltration of a sanitary system. During very wet weather,
the amount of stormwater which finds its way into the town’s sanitary system
can sometimes threaten to swamp the wastewater treatment plant, forcing
bypasses.
The LTCP is designed to reduce, if not altogether to eliminate, the need for
bypasses, with the construction of the 1.2-million gallon storage tank, into
which the plant’s main lift station will pump the stomwater-diluted
wastewater until the severity of the storm decreases and the plant’s
capacity has had a chance to catch up. The tank will then bleed the excess
back into the system for full treatment.
The total estimated cost of the plan: $14.9 million. The Utility Service
Board expects to close on a low-interest loan from the State Revolving Fund
early this summer.
Common Construction
Wage Committee
Meanwhile, the Common Construction Wage Committee--which will establish the
wages for the LTCP--will meet at 11 a.m. Monday, May 6, at the Valparaiso
City Hall, 166 Lincolnway.