As part of the ongoing sewer survey, the City engineering firm CDM Smith discovered more terracotta piping in the system than initially estimated and recommend cleaning and televising the newly identified terracotta pipes to evaluate their condition. Televising incorporates cameras to inspect and detail the piping as well as identify any obstruction allowing staff to see the root causes of sewer issues without needing to conduct more invasive methods like digging. Once the evaluation is completed, plans will be developed to replace or line the piping, depending on their condition.

The City paid about three dollars per linear foot for televising and cleaning of the Meadowbrook Sewer Interceptor, he said. "This will not be an inexpensive proposition, but it’s going to give us the information we need to better understand what is entering the sewer systems, such as ‘wild water’ so we can address it" Wireprecht said.

The Council also approved the purchase of a set of wastewater treatment pump drive shafts, one to replace a broken one that has left the wastewater treatment plant operating on only three of the four pumps, one to be held in reserve.

The shaft that broke is a two-piece drive shaft that connects the electric motor to the pump. The upper and lower shafts are connected to each other by a universal joint. The shafts where damaged when the universal joint failed and broke, allowing the upper and lower shafts to spin in an uncontrolled manner and hit supporting structures. While the upper portion can be repaired, the lower shaft requires replacement.

Historically, the plant staff said, once one pump component fails, it is not long before another similar piece in the general proximity fails as well, so having another shaft on hand is imperative. According to Wieprecht. "We really can’t afford to have more than one of these pumps go down at any given time."

The Public Works Department and the city engineer are working to identify what extra parts need to be on hand to handle future breakdowns so when equipment does break down, it can be quickly repaired and placed back into service. "As we know, for us to meet the state wastewater permits for our treatment plant, everything needs to work perfectly," Wieprecht said.

Repairing the damaged shaft, replacing the destroyed one, and acquiring a new set of shafts will total $25,670 and the shafts are expected to take 22 to 24 weeks to arrive.

Although the expenditure falls under the operation and maintenance budget, the expense to replace the shafts was not budgeted, "so we may see fallout from that further along the budget year," said Wieprecht.