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Fremont sewer rehab well underway

By Sarah A. Wise
    NL Staff Writer

31 May 2007 — Citizens of Fremont may have noticed the gravel patches appearing on more and more town streets over the past few weeks as a result of the sewer rehabilitation project, but town administrators have noticed another pleasant result – a decrease in water infiltration.

At the board’s May town meeting, both Town Administrator Kerry McDuffie and Public Works Director Tim Howell commented that the town was already seeing noticeable decreases in their sewer charge from the city of Goldsboro. This change is due to repair work already completed on city sewer lines that decreases the amount of rainwater that leaks into the wastewater being sent to Goldsboro.

The town has been working on diagnosing and addressing problems in the system for over a year now, and Mr. McDuffie says that the time and effort the town has put forth is already paying off.
“We’re definitely already seeing a difference in what’s going on,” said Mr. McDuffie.

He said that the point repairs, which target specific cracks and weak pipes, are almost all completed. This is the largest part of the job, because it repairs and replaces old and insufficient pipes that carry water from the town to Goldsboro.

A lot of manholes that needed replacement have also been replaced, added McDuffie.
Workers have not yet begun to put slip lining in the pipes, but McDuffie said that will come in the latter stages of work.

The town is only around 25 to 30 percent into the sewer rehabilitation project. The fact that town leaders can already see a difference in the efficiency of the system when at least two thirds of the project remains is a good sign.

It was hoped that the repairs would ease the financial burden that the town held to Goldsboro. A similar project in the town of Eureka, who sends their wastewater to Goldsboro via Fremont’s system, began several months ago, and should further improve the efficiency of both Eureka and Fremont sewer systems.

Fremont expects their project to be completely finished sometime in October.

As for the patches left behind after the repairs are competed, citizens will have to work with the town for a while before the streets are permanantly fixed. Permanent repairs will be made when all work is finished, to ensure that roads will not have to be repaired twice.

The town is also looking at using Powell Bill funds, which are allocated to small towns, to repair some of the streets torn up during the project.

The project contract requires the contractors to pay to repair streets that have at least 20 percent of the pavement torn up for the project. The proposed budget considers using Powell Bill funds to put permanent patches on streets that have not had that much pavement removed.

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