Saratoga sewer district eyes more repair work

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stephen Williams

The Saratoga County Sewer District will spend another $1 million to repair a corroded section of the main sewer line that comes into the county sewage treatment plant in Halfmoon.

Sewer commissioners on Wednesday voted to approve a $993,412 contract with Pipevision Products of LaSalle, Ill., to repair about 2,700 feet of line in the Coons Crossing area.

The repairs will address an ongoing problem with deterioration of the concrete pipe.

“This is the third year of a multiple-year project,” said district Executive Director James DiPasquale.

The district did a study several years ago that identified areas in the roughly 17 miles of sewer trunk line that have the worst corrosion problems, and recommending the priority in which they should be fixed.

Repairing all the problems is expected to take a decade or longer. Already, the district has spent about $1.6 million on repairs in the general area of the Halfmoon railyard.

Money for the current repairs is already included in the sewer district’s 2010 budget.

The work involves working on a 54-inch pipe that brings about 20 million gallons a day from the Northway corridor towns and cities to the treatment plant, and doing that work while keeping sewage flowing through a bypass system.

The reinforced concrete pipe, installed in the 1970s, has proven susceptible to corrosion from gases that build up in the pipe. The repairs will reline a corroded section of pipe, inserting a plastic liner that won’t corrode.

The Pipevision Products contract still requires approval from the county Board of Supervisors, which should act at its Oct. 19 meeting.

DiPasquale said the district hopes the repairs can start around Jan. 1, though he said the work is somewhat weather-dependent.

“It’s got to be done,” said sewer commission Chairman William Davis.