Council Takes Action to Fix Sewer Problems

The Decatur City Council on Tuesday took steps to fix critical sewer problems as is being required by the USEPA that today lead to backups throughout our community, approving agreements for flow monitoring and engineering necessary to complete the work.

Members during a regularly scheduled meeting voted unanimously to support a professional services agreement with ADS Environmental Services for target area flow monitoring for a fee not to exceed $462,944.28 including contingency. The Council also approved an agreement with Crawford, Murphy and Tilly, Inc. to provide professional engineering services for a not to exceed fee of $723,008.

Both agreements are necessary to fulfilling an Administrative Court order (ACO) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifying proposed repairs and future alternatives to avoid ongoing overflow and backups of sanitary sewers. The Order binds the city to provide both a Capacity Management, Operations, and Maintenance (CMOM) Program and a Sewer System Alternatives Analysis (SSAA) with work identified in both to be completed by December 31, 2018.

The CMOM Program provides a comprehensive review of the City’s sewer collection system which includes a review of system management, maintenance and capital improvements funding. The SSAA focuses on efforts to prevent storm water from entering into the separated sanitary sewer and combined sewer system in areas identified as experiencing sanitary sewer overflows and back-ups during storm events.

Contact Billy Tyus at 217-424-2727 for more information.