From the Cleveland Daily Banner: When Cleveland Utilities employees noticed an abnormal flow of wastewater — accompanied by debris such as logs —
From the Cleveland Daily Banner: When Cleveland Utilities employees noticed an abnormal flow of wastewater — accompanied by debris such as logs — was entering its wastewater treatment plant in Charleston last month, Tim Henderson, CU’s president and CEO, said they knew “something was awry.”
After investigating, Henderson told Cleveland Utilities Authority board members during their meeting on Friday that CU employees discovered a 48-inch interceptor line that began at the soccer fields on Mouse Creek Road and terminated at the treatment plant, had ruptured.
Normally, Henderson said approximately 10 million gallons flow through the 40-year-old pipe daily; however, the break allowed water from nearby Mouse Creek to enter the system, increasing the flow to 30 million gallons.
“We were essentially treating Mouse Creek,” he said.
The rupture occurred on Feb. 13.
Henderson said much of the line is buried beneath as much as 40 feet of soil.
“In this case, we were fortunate that it was about 14 to 15 feet deep,” he said.
The ruptured pipe, which was custom-made for CU some 40 years ago, was not replaceable, Henderson said.
“So, there wasn’t the ability for us to go out and find one that fit like a glove,” he said.
However, CU and Wright Brothers Construction found a workaround solution by designing and constructing a concrete junction box to join the broken pipes.
Henderson said the cost of the project, including bypassing water flow to enable workers to repair the break, was $170,000.
“It wasn’t cheap,” he said. “More of the cost of the repair itself was just bypassing [water flow] for it to be able to be repaired.”
Craig Mullinax, CU’s vice president, water and wastewater division, and workers at CU’s wastewater plant are removing soil and debris from each of the plant’s treatment basins.
“Those basins have dirt mixing with aeration that is settling to the bottom,” he said.
Mullinax said soil intrusion has “affected the infrastructure of the plant in a significant way.”
“We will be dealing with the after-effects for quite some time,” he said.
