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Sewer main collapses, creates sinkhole
A Harris Riverfront Park sewer main collapsed, creating a sinkhole "wide enough to drive two pick-up trucks through," a Huntington Sanitary Board member said Tuesday.
Purchase this photoHUNTINGTON -- A sewer main at Harris Riverfront Park collapsed, creating a sinkhole "wide enough to drive two pick-up trucks through," a Huntington Sanitary Board member said Tuesday.
The sinkhole was discovered Monday afternoon, Huntington Sanitary Board member Jim Ashworth said. It is located near 11th Street on the riverfront park side of the floodwall.
A 42-inch-by-30-inch sewer line that is more than 100 years old caused the sinkhole, Ashworth said. The break did not affect any customers, he said.
A construction firm that contracts with the Sanitary Board could begin repairs as soon as Friday. The sewer line is about 30 feet underground, Ashworth said.
"This is indicative of the age of many of our sewers, especially in the central part of town," Ashworth said. "If you consider the plan to redevelop the downtown with Pullman Square and such, you have to be concerned about the infrastructure that serves the town."
About 85 percent of Huntington's sewer system consists of lines that carry both storm water and sewage. The combined lines often overflow during heavy rain, which prevents the Huntington Sanitary Board's wastewater treatment plant from treating the water. Instead, millions of gallons of untreated water flow into streams, rivers and basements and flood city streets.
Next month, the Sanitary Board is expected to propose to City Council a 53 percent sewer rate increase to fund the first phase of a costly, long-term plan to fix Huntington's aging sewer system.
That means the average residential sewer bill of $17 would balloon to $26. The board would then ask City Council for a second rate increase in July 2010 that would hike the average bill to $29, Ashworth said.
The initial phase of Huntington's long-term plan would cost $54.5 million and include four projects: Raising weirs, or small dam walls, within sewer lines to reduce river water backing up in the sewer system; upgrading pump stations; nearly doubling the treatment capacity of the Sanitary Board's wastewater plant near Westmoreland; and separating combined sewers in certain areas.
