By James V. Horrigan
Staff Writer
Eight weeks of minor inconveniences that have left residents dealing with noise, odor and traffic tie-ups are scheduled to come to an end during the next two weeks as major work on the $1.3 million Black Point Road Sewer and Manhole Rehabilitation project is completed on time and on budget.
“The people who have been impacted the most, the residents, have been fantastic; they’ve been very cooperative getting in and out of their driveway,” said Gary Lorfano, Scarborough Sanitary District superintendent.
“They are the ones who have been most inconvenienced and they’ve been wonderful,” Lorfano said.
The project, which began in early October, involves the rehabilitation of more than a mile of a major sewer interceptor pipe without excavation or the removal of the existing pipe through a process known as “cured in-place pipe,” or CIPP.
In the process, thick, high-grade industrial felt is coated with resin, inserted into the existing pipe and heated with steam to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, said Lorfano. When the felt is “cured” in place, the result is a new pipe within a pipe.
“It’s as thick as a PVC pipe and structurally as strong as the pipe that surrounds it,” said project engineer Aubrey L. Strause of Earth Tech, the South Portland environmental engineering company that designed the project and is overseeing construction by Insituform Technologies, Inc. of Charlton, Mass.
Rehabilitation of the pipe, Lorfano said, will add 30 years to its life.
“The old pipe could literally collapse around it, it’s that strong,” Strause said.
According to Lorfano, the project is being funded without borrowing; it is paid for through the sanitary district’s fixed asset reserve fund and will not result in an increase in the present $82.50 rate paid quarterly by users of the sewer system.
“Eighty percent of the sewer flow from the entire town comes through that pipe; that’s why this is such an important subject,” Strause said.
The CIPP process is being used to save time and money. Because the existing pipe, which runs between 30 and 36 inches in diameter and lies between 15 and 22 feet underground, Lorfano said it would require months of additional work and millions of additional dollars if the pipe was dug up and replaced.
While the new felt liner is installed and cured, wastewater that would normally be flowing in that section is diverted through a bypass system overseen by Rain for Rent, of North Oxford, Mass.
“We’re pumping the sewerage up from the manholes, pumping it above ground all the way to the discharge point so we keep the pipe dry for the Insituform people,” said Rain for Rent Project Manager Dick Pilotte.
Although residents have had to put up with two months of construction, Strause said they were informed well in advance of the manner in which it would impact individual properties.
“There are actually three different times when they are notified; the first was in writing before the project began. Then, a week in advance we tell them, hey, next week it’s going to happen. Twenty-four hours in advance they get a paper that says, hey, tomorrow it begins,” said Strause.
In addition, she said, EarthTech has a resident project representative, Kevin McSweeney, on hand throughout most of the construction process, ready to answer any questions residents might have, or see that any problems or complaints are answered. Overall however, there haven’t been any major problems or complaints, Strause said.
“Kevin’s my eyes and ears. He works out here in the field when I’m not,” said Strause.
“The traffic is an annoyance, but I think they’ve done a good job of setting up the barricades and cones so people know where they should and shouldn’t go,” she said.
Between three and five flaggers are present on site throughout construction. They have taken care to make sure that traffic is not tied up in any one direction for more than five minutes at a time, Lorfano said.
“I know I haven’t been stopped for anywhere near as long as that,” Lorfano said.
Strause, whose in-laws live on Spurwink Road and have to drive through the project site several times daily, agreed with Lorfano.
“They drive back and forth and have never had an issue with it,” she said.
In the end, the Black Point Road Sewer and Manhole Rehabilitation Project may be just the most visible part of the wastewater treatment that takes place at Scarborough Sanitary District facility at 415 Black Point Road, a little more than a mile from where construction is taking place.
“I bet if you asked 80 percent of the people in those million dollar homes out on Prout’s Neck, they don’t even know we’re here,” Lorfano laughed.
Strause thinks Lorfano’s estimate is a bit exaggerated, but said she agrees in spirit.
“If most people don’t even know there’s a wastewater treatment facility on their street then I guess it means we’re doing a good job,” she said.