Wayland's video inspection of sewer lines comes back with strange results

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

WAYLAND ? In his nearly 45 years of experience, Jim Warner has never seen anything quite like it, and that?s not a good thing.

Wednesday night, Warner, of Warner Engineering in Mt. Pleasant, told the Wayland City Council that he received some strange results from the city?s TV inspection, which allows Warner to see a live video of the sewer lines.

?You?ve got, what I hope, is a one-of-a-kind sewer crossing on Washington Street,? said Warner during the regularly scheduled council meeting. ?I?ve never seen one (like it) in 45 years, and if it?s what we think it is, I hope I never see another one again.?

Warner explained that the sewer crossing, that follows Washington Street across Highway 78, never had the pipe installed; it?s just the casing. ?I think it?s just the steel casing across the highway; there?s no pipe there,? he said. ?I was afraid of what I was seeing because I?ve never seen it before.?

And as for the casing, it?s deteriorating.

Warner said he reached out to Municipal Pipe, in Hudson, who, he says, has ?TVed and mined millions of feet of sewers.? He added Municipal Pipe stated they had never seen a sewer line with just the casing and no pipe either.

Warner said Municipal Pipe could come and clean the casing so it can be lined with plastic to protect it from further corrosion.

When asked, Warner said the plastic liner could last for up to 50 years and would be much cheaper than digging up the sewer line and placing a pipe.

Municipal Pipe would charge $800 to come to Wayland and $375 an hour to clean and TV the line. Warner said there were two or three other areas where the sewer line crosses the highway and he would like the firm to check those areas as well while they?re in the area. Warner added it would likely cost around $5,000 to line the crossing.

The council approved hiring Municipal Pipe to clean and TV the lines, as well as lining the casing.

In other business, the council approved a water rate increase of $0.30.

?We have no reserve built up,? said City Clerk Beverly Conrad referring to the budget for water. ?After painting the water tower, our salt rate has gone up, it just makes it difficult. We hadn?t raised it before in over 10 years.?

The city approved an increase two years ago, but before that, it had been over a decade since residents saw any increase in their water bill.

During the meeting, the council also set the public hearing for the fiscal year 2016-17 budget for Wednesday, March 2, 2016, at 7:30 p.m., at City Hall.

The next regular meeting of the Wayland City Council will be Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m., at City Hall.