Contracts for sewer repair, maintenance up for consideration in Mt. Lebanon | News

As a community within the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority’s coverage area, Mt. Lebanon has consent to contribute to the long-term planning of the region’s canal infrastructure.

Every year, Mt. Lebanon takes action to inspect, troubleshoot and take preventive measures along approximately 15 miles of sewers, which is 10% of the total length of the local system.

During the community commission’s panel discussion on January 12th, representatives from Gateway Engineers presented information on contracts for relevant services to be awarded for 2021. Each of the contracts represents a renewal of the agreements made in previous years.

Gateway’s Michael Albright said such agreements are designed to reduce administrative costs while ensuring consistency in performance, “and to incentivize contractors to get better prices based on the potential for multi-year work,” he said. “So this is really a more efficient way to manage a contract.”

Among the contracts for 2021 is the largest with Niando Construction of Penn Hills for spot repairs in the local plumbing and storm sewers, as well as for the installation of new manholes and the clearing of buried manholes. The cost to Niando, who is doing such work for the third year in a row, is more than $ 850,000.

Dan Deiseroth, President of Gateway, said that in over a decade of work on the system, a significant number of repairs have been made.

“We are now at a point where they are in precarious places,” he said of problem areas. “You could be near someone’s swimming pool. You could be under a wall. “

Once repairs have been made, it is common practice to install a liner to seal the system against leaks.

In order to investigate the status of sanitary and rainwater sewers, the municipality has commissioned Roto Rooter, also for the third time, to record a video of a part for assessment. Including housekeeping, the cost this year is $ 238,060 based on the terms of previously placed contracts.

After Roto Rooter has carried out an initial assessment, the video is sent to Gateway for review. A copy is also provided to the municipality for the public works department to refer to when issues are reported.

“It actually created a lot of efficiency for us from a work standpoint,” said City Administrator Keith McGill.

There is a contract with PIM Corp. for the rehabilitation of manholes and the application of protective coatings to seal against corrosion, groundwater infiltration and wastewater filtration. for a second renewal of $ 311,735 for 2021.

Another deal is chemical root canal treatment with Duke’s Root Control for $ 84,830. The company uses a US Environmental Protection Agency registered herbicide “that kills roots in sewers without harming trees above ground,” Albright said.

Finally, Roto Rooter has to perform maintenance on backflow valves installed on private properties to divert sewers away from households at a cost of $ 16,725.

“In a perfect world we wouldn’t have this,” said Deiseroth.

“But until the infiltration is removed from the system and there is a backup option, these are good insurance for the community. It costs money to maintain it, but we don’t pay insurance to clean up people’s basements. “