New Brownsville sewage treatment plant ready to go
BROWNSVILLE – The new belt press sewage treatment plant in Brownsville could begin operation as early as next week. Bill Johnson of Fayette Engineering told the Brownsville Municipal Authority Tuesday that the new plant could be put into commission as early as next Monday.
“We will connect with Pump A, at which time we will have no choice but to start up this plant,” Johnson said.
The Brownsville Municipal Authority is in the midst of an $11 million project mandated by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Phase I includes construction of a new treatment plant outside of the flood plain, construction of a new forced main to the plant and reconstruction of the A Station pumping facility near the Brownsville Wharf Riverside Park.
Phase II of the project involved installation of new sewage collection lines throughout the town and the separation of the sanitary sewers and the storm sewers to prevent groundwater from infiltrating the treatment system and overloading the plant and pump stations.
Phase I is nearing completion, Johnson said.
“We have issued a preliminary punch list. We will do a final inspection once the plant is commissioned, then we will do our final punch list,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that the A Station site still needs to be fenced and graded and the temporary pumping station needs to be dismantled.
Johnson said that the new sewer lines should be installed along High Street by the end of September, though detours will continue while the road is repaved. Johnson said the road will be resurfaced from curb to curb, with concrete put in on the lower portion replacing the concrete that was removed, and asphalt used on the remainder of the street.
“That’s the only place on this project that we can do curb to curb. It’s a state highway. For everything else, we will just repave the trench line,” Johnson said. “We are 60 percent complete on the line work.”
Johnson said all of the work on High Street, including the repaving, should be completed and the detours ended by the third week of October, weather permitting.