Middletown City Council approved three projects to improve the city’s sewage system and repair two other sewer lines.

Council approved the second project of the 25-year, $269 million plan mandated by a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In December 2017, the city agreed to the consent decree settlement under the Clean Water Act to address discharges of untreated sewage through overflows from its combined storm and sanitary sewer system into the Great Miami River and Hydraulic Canal.

Council approved a contract not to exceed $150,988 with Brown and Caldwell for a project that will improve drainage in the Lakeside area..

Scott Tadych, city public works and utilities director, said a storm water redirection project was identified to reduce the storm water contribution to the combined sewer system from the Lakeside drainage area. He said the proposed project will collect storm water from this 291-acre drainage area through a new trunk sewer estimated to 3,000 feet in length and 36 inches in diameter.

Tadych said a pump station will be constructed to lift collected storm flow through approximately 4,000 feet of 18-inch diameter force-main so it can flow to the Hydraulic Canal where it crosses Germantown Road.

City officials said design-build procurement will be used to expedite the implementation of the estimated $12 million project. Under the terms of the consent decree, the project is required to be completed by the end of 2021.

Council also approved an emergency ordinance to replace a section of the East Middletown Interceptor Sewer that partially collapsed on March 31 in the rear of 2500 Oxford State Road. This 42-inch-wide corrugated metal sewer line runs along Dick’s Creek within an easement that serves a large portion of central and east Middletown. The collapse is just upstream from a section of pipe the city replaced last year.

Howell Contractors, Inc. will be making repairs of up to $350,000 and could include replacing 50 to 150 feet of pipe. City officials said bypass pumping will be required to make the repair that is expected to take three to four weeks.

The sewer pipe replacement project also counts toward city’s consent decree requirements.

In another sewage system project, council approved a contact with Smithcorp Inc. that will insert a new lining inside the existing 84-inch Roosevelt Boulevard storm sewer culvert and constructing new headwalls at each end. Tadych said this method is more cost effective than open-cutting the street just east of Breiel Boulevard and replacing the pipe in-kind.

Smithcorp Inc. submitted the lowest and best bid of $257,066, which was 8 percent lower than the next bidder.

Ed Richter has been a working journalist for 36 years, with the last 32 years working in various capacities covering Butler and Warren counties as a reporter and an editor. An award-winning journalist, Richter covers local news and governments in Warren County focusing on Springboro, Lebanon, Franklin, Carlisle and Waynesville.