Wallace celebrates sewer project completion
WALLACE — Earlier this week the city of Wallace hosted a celebration commemorating the completion of its sewer system.
Residents were invited to come to the Wallace Elks building and enjoy some refreshments, as well as take a look at some of the work that was done during the extensive project.
The $7.7 million project ran over the course of four calendar years, which included planning, design and construction, and was completed in August.
The city was able to get nearly 75 percent of the costs covered by grants, which allowed for only a slight increase in sewer rates for the taxpayers of Wallace.
During the party, visitors were able to watch before and after videos showing the failing clay pipe system that was replaced, as well as the new 20,500 feet of cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) that was installed.
CIPP is a jointless, seamless, pipe within a pipe, method of rehabilitating aging sewer systems.
This project was unique because it included replacement of almost every private sewer service line in the city at no additional cost to the property owners.
More than 500 properties and about 16,000 feet of pipeline were replaced and many more old connections were plugged.
Replacing the service lines was a critical piece of the overall project goal of reducing the amount of groundwater that gets into the sewer system.
Wallace mayor Lynn Mogensen complimented her community’s patience throughout the project and is happy that the city has improved on their future infrastructure.
“We are grateful for the community’s patience and cooperation throughout the last three years of construction,” Mogensen said. “We are excited that the short-term inconvenience is over and now our citizens have a sewer system that will provide long-term, reliable service.”
Wallace’s sewer improvements are part of an ongoing effort throughout the Silver Valley to reduce groundwater and storm water from entering the sewer systems.
Since starting sewer improvements three years ago, the city of Wallace has noticed a significant reduction in flows in their system, signifying that the system improvements have been successful.