By Rich Pollack
Richard Nixon was in the White House, American soldiers were in Vietnam and the first man was about to walk on the moon just about the same time that many of the sewer pipes buried under the streets of Highland Beach were being installed.
Now more than half a century later, those original pipes, as well as others installed soon after, are starting to outlive their design life.
Rather than replace them, however, town leaders hope they will get the green light from residents to spend up to $3.5 million to line the sewer mains throughout the community.
“This needs to happen,” Commissioner Evalyn David said during a meeting last month in which commissioners agreed to bring the issue to voters in a March referendum.
While the town has been diligent in making sure older water pipes were replaced and kept in good shape, sewer lines didn’t receive as much attention over the years, said Town Manager Marshall Labadie.
“We just have not gotten to the sewer lines,” he said. “It’s been out of sight and out of mind.”
Now as the pipes start to show their age, the proposed Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation project becomes a high priority, according to town leaders.
“If we don’t do it, we’re going to be spending four times as much and it will be extremely disruptive,” Labadie said.
To determine the condition of the pipes, the town authorized a study that was conducted several months ago in which cameras were sent through the sewer mains. They revealed signs of aging that could mean repairs would be needed within a few years.
The cameras also showed that it’s likely some ground water could be seeping into the lines, driving up the town’s cost of treatment, and that some water from inside the pipes could be leaking into the ground.
To head off having to make costly emergency repairs, the town explored the possibility of lining the pipes, hiring an engineering firm that has developed plans for the project.
All that is standing in the way is a spending cap that requires the town to get voter approval for any project over $350,000.
Commissioners are also considering whether to ask voters to increase that spending cap to $900,000 each year with an additional annual cost-of-living increase, but a referendum would still be needed for the sewer lining project due to its $3.5 million price tag.
Labadie said that if voters approve the project in March, work could begin quickly because much of the preliminary work has been completed.
Lining the pipes, mostly 8- to-10-inch mains, is most cost-effective and less intrusive than replacing pipes, Labadie said, and will extend the useful life for several decades.
With sewer-pipe lining projects, crews inject an epoxy-saturated tubing into the existing pipe, inflate it and then set it with heat or steam. The work is done at manholes so little, if any, tearing up of roadway is needed.
If residents approve funding for the project, the town will have several financing options including floating bonds, taking out loans or tapping into reserves.
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