Sewer work recently completed

Recently-completed sewer line point repairs in Holton took a little longer — and cost a little more than planned — due to extensive repairs needed on a sewer interceptor line at the south edge of the city, members of the Holton City Commission were told during their regular meeting on Monday evening.

Commissioners approved a certificate of completion for the city’s sewer line point repair project for 2021, with a final cost of $68,596 — an increase of $12,741 over the $55,855 bid approved by the city in November for the work, done by J&K Contracting L.C. of Junction City, but still lower than the original engineer’s estimate of $77,615 for the work.

The reason for the increase in the overall cost and the extra time needed to finish the work, according to Holton City Manager Kerwin McKee, was an expected one: a sewer interceptor that was damaged beyond the limits of a cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) treatment, according to engineer Andrew Brunner of Great Bend’s EBH Engineering, who noted that all the work was completed by Jan. 13.

Brunner noted that J&K had originally planned to finish the work load of nine sewer line point repairs by Dec. 31, and indeed, the firm had “just about all the point repairs done” within “two or three days” of getting started after the city approved the contract for the work back in November.

But it was the sewer interceptor, located on land south of the southern end of Vermont Avenue, that prompted the higher cost and the extended work time, he said, noting that the last time the line had been cleaned and camera-inspected, only one section of the 75-foot interceptor line was identified as needing a point repair.

“It was a lot worse than just a point repair,” Brunner told commissioners. “When they were cleaning that out, they found that it wasn’t just one section that was falling apart. There were larger chunks of clay tile that were found in the line.”

McKee said J&K gave the city “a really good price” to repair the 75-foot section of 12-inch sewer line, which was buried 20 feet below ground. Brunner also noted that J&K provided a one-year warranty on the entire project, adding that “we’ll watch and see if we see any settlement issues” that the company will need to return to Holton to correct.

With the point repair work done, Holton Water and Sewer Superintendent Dennis Ashcraft said the city could now focus on more CIPP work — which involves the use of “insituform” technology to install a plastic liner in an underground water or sewer line to repair minor issues without having to dig up the line — this year.

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