Stormwater pipe near Applebee’s in Jamestown temporarily addressed

JAMESTOWN — A failed stormwater pipe near Applebee’s in Jamestown has been temporarily addressed and the area is secure, according to Travis Dillman, city engineer.

During the city engineer's report, Dillman told the Jamestown Public Works Committee on Thursday, May 25, that the city of Jamestown’s main concern was the immediate need for protecting the public around the sinkhole area.

“They (Scherbenske Inc.) were able to find some pipe just for that sinkhole area to be able to put in and patch that together as best we can, break off the overhang because we were worried … as future water came, it was starting to erode further into the banks,” he said. “We wanted to secure the area so that’s been accomplished.”

He said the stormwater pipe has not been permanently fixed or tested as of Thursday.

“But, it does look good,” he said. “The hope of course is if we do get another inch to 2-inch rain that it will be able to handle this without future erosion, so we can address the main issue.”

Dillman said the city is working on a long-term solution, but the goal was to try to minimize future erosion and washout at the sinkhole site.

Stormwater runoff and flooding resulted in the failure of a 96-inch stormwater pipe located south of 25th Street Southwest and east of 8th Avenue Southwest. The sinkhole at the site was estimated to be 12 to 14 feet deep.

The Jamestown City Council approved a resolution on May 15 affirming and extending an emergency declaration issued by the mayor related to a failed stormwater pipe near Applebee’s. At the time, Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said the emergency declaration that he issued on May 15 would only last for seven days and the problem would take longer than that to resolve. The council’s action extended that time until the stormwater system is repaired and the risk to others abated, the resolution says.

Under the emergency declaration, Dillman said the goal is to address all of the stormwater pipes south of 25th Street Southwest.

Dillman said engineers are working with pipe manufacturers on pricing and availability. He said the cost and longevity of the pipe will be considered.

In other business, the Public Works Committee unanimously recommended approval of the plans and specifications of lime filter presses for the water treatment plant. The committee’s action also authorizes advertising for bids for the procurement of the lime filter presses.

Dillman said authorizing the advertisement for bids will help get the presses sooner because of the long lead time to get them.

“Once we know exactly based on the supplier who’s going to be giving that product, we can get the shop drawings for that so we can actually do the design of the installation so that we can bid that part as well,” he said.

The goal is to get the lime presses installed and operational by next spring.

Two filter presses, which are about 30 years old, used in the water-softening treatment process experienced major breakdowns last summer. The filter presses remove water from the lime sludge used to soften the drinking water.

The city of Jamestown uses well water, which is relatively hard and needs to be softened. The lime — the main treatment component to soften the water — is added as a softening agent and helps pull the iron and manganese from the water to lower the calcium and total hardness of the water.

During the water softening treatment process, the water treatment plant ends up with a lot of lime sludge that gets sent to the lime press room to be removed. The press filters extract the water from the sludge itself and leave the particulate behind.