Date: Fri 17-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

sewers-pump-stations

Full Text:

Danbury Firm Recommended For Pump Station Contract

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) is recommending that the town

hire a Danbury firm to build four sewage pumping stations for the municipal

sewer system.

WPCA members January 9 unanimously recommended that Kovacs Construction

Corporation be hired for the job for $1.53 million, said Public Works Director

Fred Hurley.

Kovacs was low bidder on the project. The high bid came from Talia

Construction Company at $2.16 million. Six sealed bids for the work were

submitted, Mr Hurley said.

The pumping stations will be installed on Glen Road in Sandy Hook Center, near

the end of Taunton Lake Drive, on Hanover Road near Blakeslee Drive, and on

Baldwin Road.

From the street, the four pumping stations will look like garden sheds. The

pumps are located in 20-foot-deep pits beneath the sheds. Landscaping will be

provided.

The stations will be located at the periphery of the sewer system. They are

used to pump sewage uphill from low spots to points where it can flow downhill

under the force of gravity.

The pumping stations are scheduled to be completed by July 1. Each station

will house an emergency generator to keep sewage flowing in the event of

electrical outages. Maintenance crews are expected to periodically visit the

stations to test equipment.

Initially, Fuss and O'Neill, Inc, of Manchester, the town's consulting

engineer, said up to seven pumping stations might be needed for the sewer

system. But town officials decided to pare down the number to four. The number

was cut by installing "cross country" runs of sewer pipe in which additional

lengths of gravity sewers are employed to prevent the need for pumping

stations.

The town will be able to remotely control the four pumping stations'

functions, Mr Hurley said.

Pumping station construction has been delayed by difficulties the town faced

in aquiring property for the facilities.

The pumping station contract award is subject to review by the state

Department of Environemntal Protection (DEP).

Mr Hurley said a fifth sewage pumping station may not be needed in connection

with plans to extend a sewer line to Newtown High School. It may be possible

to design a gravity sewer that serves the school, he said. If a gravity sewer

is practical, it would cut town maintenance costs on the sewer system.

Besides building the four major pumping stations, as part of the construction

contract Kovacs would install 34 sewage grinder pumps at homes and businesses

in the sewer district. The grinder pumps are small-scale pumps which push

sewage up from low spots on the sewer system to points where it flow downhill

in gravity sewers. The grinder pumps are an alternative to pump stations.

The town will own the grinder pumps. It is expected to cost homeowners between

$20 and $25 annually in electricty costs to run the pumps.

The sewer system is expected to be completed this fall after which property

owners will connect to it.