Village OKs sewer work

The village board approved the expenditure of $51,000 to address a problem in the village’s troubled sewer system during a special meeting on Friday afternoon.

The money will be used to drill a hole horizontally and install nearly 250 feet of new sewer pipe near the corner of Williams and Saunders Streets.

While installing sewer laterals, which connect a home’s plumbing with the sewer system, engineers with Cutting Edge, discovered a two foot by four foot section of an old storm sewer system was blocked with sand and dirt. The dirt was blocking the flow of waste water from an adjacent house.

Village officials said owner of the property was actually snaking their pipe every three to four months because of the blockage and the building’s sewer pipe was underwater.

Cutting Edge will bypass the blockage and install the new pipe using a method known as directional boring, in which engineers drill a hole underground without having to excavate the enter area. They will also install a new manhole. The village will be responsible for fixing the road and sidewalk.

The project will be financed using portions of a $2 million emergency plan the village has used to make improvements to its sewer system.

Officials said the project should help the village comply with state Department of Environmental Conservation regulations because it will eliminate a section of an outdated storm water system.

The work was scheduled to begin on Tuesday (Oct. 11) and was expected to take a few days to complete.