05-14-2014 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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• We discovered that some of our manholes on Carla Lane had groundwater leaking into them. There are a few different ways to repair manholes. One is to spot repair the areas that are leaking with an epoxy grout. Another method is to basically coat the entire manhole structure with an epoxy coating to prevent future leaks. There is a pretty significant price difference between the two methods, but staff has had some of those manholes spot repaired in the past and now new leaks have developed. It may make more sense to coat the entire manhole. Staff will obtain quotes for both methods and make a recommendation once they are received. • The bulk of the problem is occurring in either the homes or in the services for the homes. Staff had Infratech out to televise the Carla Lane neighborhood on Wednesday, April 30, while the groundwater was high. They found eight of the 28 services to have significant clear water running out of them indicating that there is either a problem with the service pipe or they are running their sump pumps into the sanitary sewer system, which is against City ordinance. Infratech then televised five of the services by launching a camera from the main into the service. I haven't received the disks back yet but the operator told me that at least one of the services has a crack and a significant amount of water is entering the system. This could be up to 20 gallons per minute when the water table is as high as it was during the storm. He couldn't tell on other services due to bends in the pipe so it is not known if the other homes have cracks or illegal sump pump connections. • It should be mentioned that Maplewood contributes flows to the Keller Lift Station as well. However, staff observed the overwhelming percentage of the clear water coming from Carla Lane. Maplewood has televised their lines in the past and reported that there are no issues with the main. There may be illegal sump connections and I will talk to Maplewood about its sump pump program and what they know about the area. Staff is proposing the following plan to eliminate as much groundwater from the sanitary sewer system as possible. • All properties on Cada Lane will be inspected for illegal sump pump connections. 'those that are in violation will be required to bring their pump into compliance or be subject to a fine. The ordinance only states that the City Council will establish a surcharge amount and the surcharge will be applied to property owners who do not comply with the ordinance. One thought is to impose a surcharge fee on non- compliant property owners. Once the pump is brought into compliance, the fee will be stayed indefinitely subject to periodic inspections. If future violations are discovered, that fee will be collected plus any additional fees imposed at that time. It is important to remember that all of these properties had sump pump inspections a number of years ago and were compliant at that time. If violations now exist, it indicates willful intent to do so. Staff is open to any suggestions from the Council regarding how to handle the sump pump issues.