Hughes/Horseshoe Lake News

Marion scraps Sartini sewer line extension

Mayor: Complications make plan ‘ not

a viable option’

news@theeveningtimes.com

Marion has decided against extending a sewer line from the Sartini pump station to the James Mill forced main. Mayor Frank Fogleman said the pumps are not equipped to handle the extra work and there are to many engineering complications to go ahead with the project. “Our thinking has changed,” Fogleman said. “We dug into it and feel that doing the Sartini line is not a viable option. The current volume from Sartini to James Mill is not as hot an idea as we had earlier thought it would be.”

Fogleman said the better option may be for the city to get some new pumps and upsize some other stations with an existing pump.

The city is considering upgrading the pumps at the animal shelter and Bayou Vista.

Fogleman said they could then shift the pump at the animal shelter to Bayou Vista and the Bayou Vista pump to Sartini.

“There seems to be a change in thought here,” Fogleman said. “What I am seeing from the water and sewer committee is that maybe we get a bigger bang for our buck on increasing volume by increasing the pumps at the two main stations than adding a line at Sartini.”

Building the line to Sartini would have cost about $288,000. The city still has about $300,000 in loan money it can use from Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.

The city is also studying the Neely pump station as well. The pump needs some repair and electrical work.

“We are still assessing that,” Fogleman said. “It could be one (new pump) or the other. Or both.”

In other business, Bond Engineering told the water and sewer committee that he has approval from the health department to go ahead and proceed with the pipe bursting project on the crumbling Oak Street sewer line and is just waiting to hear back from ANRC to put it out to bid.

Because water is only halfway up to the pipe, methane gas has built up and left the concrete sewer line brittle. It has become increasingly difficult for the city to repair the line because they can’t find a solid enough piece to attach new pipe to.

Pipe bursting breaks up the line and allows a new pipe to be paid through the existing

cavity.

And on another update, Fogleman said Water Department Manager Jim Shempert recently informed him that the city may be able to fix both aerators at the sewer pond. The water and sewer committee had asked Shempert to get them a cost estimate on a new pump.

But according to Shempert, they may be able to take parts off of one and fix both pumps for about $3,500.

“One is dead and one is limping,” Fogleman said. “But it looks like we can get along without having to buy one.”

By Mark Randall