CITY PREPARES FOR SEWER SYSTEM WORK; PROJECT FUNDED THROUGH BOND ISSUE

Two new sewer projects are about to begin, and work continues on a third as the city of Cape Girardeau continues to upgrade its sewer system.

Last week, the Cape Girardeau City Council awarded contracts on two major sewer projects.

R and K Excavation Inc. was awarded a $924,507.15 contract to construct a new sanitary sewer system to serve the Twin Lakes Subdivision.

Work on the Twin Lakes sewer system should begin in the next month or so and be completed by next spring, said city engineer Mark Lester.

The trunk line will follow Route K, and a small lift station will have to be built in the subdivision.

Monroe Plumbing and Heating was awarded a $211,580 contract to relocate sewer lines as part of the Walker Branch flood control project.

The Walker Branch project ties in with the Army Corps of Engineers' channel work, Lester said.

"We're moving these sewers out of the way," he said. In addition, some of the lines will be made larger "in preparation of continuation of that line farther north."

The relocation project will cover a stretch from Broadview to Perryville Road and is part of the city's $2.3 million investment in the Cape LaCroix Creek/Walker Branch flood control project.

To see work in project, head to the city's South Side, where work continues on the city's combined sewer segregation project.

In the neighborhoods around Fort D, work is under way to construct separate lines to carry sewage and stormwater.

The city's older sewer lines -- some of which date back to 1908 -- were designed to carry both.

But that's not such a good idea, Lester said.

Federal mandates require that all sewage gets treated. If there's a lot of stormwater, the city's treatment plant is overloaded.

And if heavy rains fill up the sewers, raw waste bypasses the system and winds up in area creeks, residents' basements or the Mississippi River.

"This is basically taking all the rainwater out and letting it go into the river and allowing just the sanitary sewer water to go through the treatment plant," Lester said.

The project is funded through a $25 million bond issue approved by votes in 1994.

Work has already been done on the Sloan Creek, Walnut-Henderson and College-Henderson south components of the project.

College-Henderson north, the Fort D area and the downtown area remain to be done.

In total, the city has allocated $12.5 million for the project, including $7.1 million for construction.

The city is using a mixture of traditional open trenches and micro-tunneling to replace the sewers.

Micro-tunneling means construction crews don't have to tear out city streets.

Lester said he's hopeful the new technology will work in the downtown area.

The combined sewer segregation project could be complete in 1999.