The upheaval on Morrisburg streets is about to come to an end.
Much construction related to a few different sewer projects in the works has kept those travelling in Morrisburg guessing about which routes were open to travel on a daily basis, but most of those projects are coming to an end this week.
Tuesday, Chris Bazinet, South Dundas manager of public works told The Leader that this week grade crews will be at the Lakeshore Drive project to put down a lift of asphalt on the eastern part of the project, which is from Augusta Street to Canada Way. The western part of the Lakeshore project, which is west of Augusta Street will remain gravel over the winter, because crews will be back in the spring to complete the redesigned storm sewer component of the project. Spring is when property rehabilitation will take place.
All of the planned work on the water and sewer infrastructure is being completed now.
The cost of the Lakeshore sewer work was covered by government funding as long as it was completed before March 2014. “So we are ahead of time for the funding,” said Bazinet.
The project also stayed within budget. He reported that they did discover some old infrastructure that they hadn’t planned on, but they were able to address it with the funds available to the project.
The Lakeshore Drive area will soon be open to two lane traffic.
By the end of December the other nearby sewer work project which has been taking place in the First, Second, High and St. Lawrence Street areas will also be finishing. Any leftover cleanup work from these projects will wait until spring.
Throughout the projects, Bazinet says that the municipality received minimal complaints and that residents were very respectful of the work taking place. During the project there was a pipe failure that led to a sewer back up that affected four homes.
Another sewer-related project, the sewer re-lining work that has been taking place over the summer also wrapped up, having been completed last week.
“We did do a lot of work that focused on a major portion of infrastructure, all during the same season,” said Bazinet.
Construction on the new waste water treatment plant in Iroquois has been ongoing. Completion of that project and its commissioning is expected in February, 2014.
Going forward, Bazinet says the next major step to addressing sewer issues is to get a sewer use bylaw in place to reduce the load on the waste water treatment plants in both Iroquois and Morrisburg.
Flow and smoke testing data will soon be reported to the department, allowing them to determine where problem areas for inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewers exist.
Having seen some improper connections into the system during the recent sewer projects, it is clear that these connections exist, but the municipality will have to find a way to deal with these issues, over time, that are overtaxing the sewer system.
Bazinet explained that storm water needs to go into the storm water system, not the sanitary sewer. The problem with these improper connections are especially evident during a heavy rainfall event.
Bazinet explained that the Morrisburg waste water treatment plant regularly handles about 3,500 cubic meters a day. During a heavy rainfall event this summer the plant saw 15,000 cubic meters, which is very close to the plant’s limit of 16,000 cubic meters.
“Clearly, we need to find a way to reduce the volume to the plant,” he said.
A draft sewer use bylaw is being reviewed by council. Once they approve the draft, it will move to the public consultation phase.
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