Work on $2.1 million worth of sewer projects will move forward after receiving the go-ahead from the Delaware County Commissioners.
Tiffany Maag, Sanitary Engineering and Development deputy director, said the five proposed sanitary sewer projects will increase the system’s capacity to accommodate future growth.
“These were all recommended to be installed and constructed in the next few years,” Maag told the commissioners Monday.
During the bidding process, “we got a total of 20 proposals from different consultants,” she said.
Maag said the improvements were all part of the district’s master plan.
According to Maag, the largest project she recommended for the commissioners’ approval was for the lower Alum Creek relief station project.
“What we are doing is taking the entire west half of the Alum Creek basin into a new lift station,” she said. “It will look similar to our current Alum Creek lift station. If you’ve seen that one over in Westerville, it’s a really large building. It looks like a library or something because it’s so big.”
Maag said with both plants operating, the county could extend development in the area for another 10 to 20 years.
Commissioners approved an agreement with MS Consultants Inc. for the lower Alum Creek relief pump station project with total compensation not to exceed $638,000.
Maag said the district’s plans for a new lift station in Berkshire Township will allow for additional development in the area of the Interstate 71 and U.S. 36/State Route 37 corridor near the Tanger Outlet Mall.
Commissioners approved an agreement for the Berkshire project with Prime AE Group Inc. of Columbus, Ohio for professional services with the total compensation not to exceed $376,830.
Maag said just downstream from the Berkshire pump station on the east side of Alum Creek is the existing Cheshire pump station.
“It’s kind of key,” she said. “We need to upgrade the lift station to about double the capacity and increase the size of the existing force main.”
Commissioners approved an agreement with Strand Associates Inc. of Madison, Wisconsin, with an office in Columbus, Ohio, for the Cheshire project with total compensation not to exceed $313,160.
Maag asked commissioners to approve an agreement with HDR Engineering Inc. from Columbus, Ohio for the district’s Peachblow pump station project. She said the project is an upgrade to an existing pump station near the Evans Farm housing development and the new Olentangy High School.
“We’re seeing a big influx of development there,” she said. “It’s important we get this lift station upgraded to allow for all that development to occur.”
Commissioners approved the agreement with HDR Engineering Inc. with compensation not to exceed $439,000.
The last agreement that Maag approached the commissioners with seeking their approval was a required project that happens every few years.
“It’s a three- to five-year rotation that we have to do this,” she said.”It’s an electrical safety project where the consultant will go out to every single pump station and treatment plant in the district, open up all the electrical boxes and evaluate what the level is inside the boxes, then rate it for the safety and recommend any upgrades.”
Commissioners approved an agreement with Arcadis U.S. Inc. of Columbus, Ohio for the project with compensation not to exceed $397,826.
