LAWTON – Approximately three and onethird miles of municipal sanitary sewer lines will be rehabilitated under a $9.24 million contract approved recently by the City Council.
Two bids were received on the curedin-place pipe lining project, and the contract was awarded to SAK Construction from O’Fallon, Missouri.
The contract authorizes work on about 17,600 linear feet of sewer lines at 10 locations in Lawton. Those include Cache Road and 40th Street, Sheridan Road between Gore Boulevard. and Lee Boulevard., Lee Boulevard. between Railroad Street and Interstate 44, and I Avenue from Sixth Street to 17th Street.
Construction began Nov. 13, 2023, and should be finished by the end of this year, city officials told Southwest Ledger.
The CIPP process “is not necessarily cheaper, but it is a much faster installation and involves less interruption to the public,” said Rusty Whisenhunt, the city’s public utilities director. When installed beneath a street, it requires only temporary shutdowns, he said.
Approximately 78,000 linear feet (more than 14 miles) of 15-inch to 48-inch gravity-flow sanitary sewer lines are being replaced or repaired by CIPP in various locations throughout Lawton, said Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications manager. CIPP is “much more cost effective than replacing an entire line in some cases,” she said.
Installation requires a thorough inspection and cleaning of the identified lines beforehand. The process entails inserting a flexible liner into an existing pipe, inflating it, and exposing the liner to heat in order to harden it.
According to Whisenhunt, the material is composed of a flexible sock impregnated with a resin. The sock is folded up and pulled through the existing line, then inflated with water. The resin is activated with hot water and held for an extended time to cure the resin. As the resin cures it becomes hard and functions like a new pipe. After the water is removed, the cured pipe holds its shape against the old sewer main. “It provides structural support for the old main and eliminates water infiltration,” Whisenhunt said.
Sewer system problems have plagued Lawton for years.
Just last week the City Council considered damage claims for a sewage backup Feb. 9 in the bathroom of a home in the 4000 block of Northwest Ozmun Avenue, and a sewer backup Feb. 7-10 in the 1100 block of Northwest Willow Place that was blamed on an obstruction from non-biodegradable sanitary wipes. Public utility officials across the nation have repeatedly advised citizens to toss used wipes into a trash can and not flush them down a toilet.
Leaking sewer lines led to a consent order the state Department of Environmental Quality imposed on the City of Lawton in January 2003 and an addendum issued in October 2021. That dictate requires the City of Lawton to continue working on its wastewater collection system to reduce infiltration and inflow.
The 2021 mandate directed the city to conduct a sanitary sewer evaluation survey and afterward submit a schedule for rehabilitation of the malfunctioning sewage collection system. The city performed the evaluation and developed a schedule for renovation of the wastewater collection system.
The 2021 consent order compelled the City of Lawton to initiate an “immediate” corrective action plan by Feb. 1, 2022, and complete construction by Nov. 1, 2024, on an “interim” corrective action plan.
In a related matter, the City Council awarded a $4 million contract to McKee Utility Contractors last month for construction of the South Wolf Creek Trunk Expansion #5 in southwest Lawton.
That job will feature “rehabilitation” of approximately 32,000 linear feet of sanitary sewer lines between Southwest 52nd and Southwest 67th Streets south of Lee Boulevard; construction on that job is underway. According to Gatlin, the project will entail “total replacement” of an 18-inch line with 36-inch and 42-inch sewer mains.
The contract will be financed from a $30 million Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Whisenhunt said.
Although the Prague company’s bid was more than twice as high as the engineer’s estimate, the contract was nevertheless awarded to McKee because of the DEQ’s order requiring the city to rehabilitate 191,000 linear feet of failing sewer lines.
Construction/Rehabilitation for Phase III Sewer Rehabilitation “is to be completed by Jan. 1, 2025,” city staff informed the City Council. “To meet this deadline, it is imperative the Public Utilities Department contract out the South Wolf Creek Trunk Expansion #5 Project, as our field workers continue completion on other projects…” Seventeen projects in Phase III of the sewer rehab program that began in 2014 have been completed, and six other projects are under construction, Whisenhunt related. More than 175,000 linear feet (33 miles) of sewer lines were installed during Phase 3, he said.
That $18 million program has been financed from a multiyear capital improvements program, records indicate.
In-house sewer construction crews are currently engaged in South Wolf Creek Trunk Expansion #6, at 82nd Street and Lee Boulevard, and in the Rogers Lane / Turtle Creek area.
Construction also started recently on a sewer improvement project at two locations between 11th Street and Sheridan Road: one near Jefferson Avenue and one near New York Avenue, city officials reported. That job is being financed from a 2021 community development block grant.
And construction is scheduled to start next month on three sub-basins that extend the length of the city between 60th Street and Flower Mound Road, City Hall announced.