The Constantine Village Council has taken another step in its ongoing efforts to address concerns about groundwater infiltration of the community’s sanitary sewer collection system.

During a brief special meeting Wednesday morning (November 25th), the council authorized Village Manager Mark Honeysett to contract with ProForm Pipe Lining Company, Inc. of Mishawaka, Indiana to videotape 175 feet of six-inch sewer line in the 100 block of East Water Street at a cost of $400.

The move followed action during the council’s November 16th meeting to have Clean Earth Environmental Contracting Services perform the camera work at a cost not to exceed $250.  Honeysett reported that the one-dollar-per-foot charge he understood Clean Earth would charge for the work assumed a minimum of 1,500 feet of sewer line and that, since the project was less than that, the cost would be $750.  Subsequent conversation with a ProForm representative revealed the company’s willingness to videotape the short section of sewer line for $400 since crews would be in town to do pre-lining video of sewer line sections on Garden and West Water streets.

A 175-foot section of sewer line north of (behind) two buildings in the 100 block of East Water Street in Constantine will be videotaped to determine if groundwater infiltration is occurring. The sewer line is near the St. Joseph River.

Prior to the vote, Honeysett reported that Department of Public Works personnel opened one of the manholes in the backyard of the affected area on Tuesday and “found a lot of tree roots down in there that they cleaned out,” but they did not see water, which would indicate infiltration.  He said, however, “That doesn’t mean that there isn’t infiltration problems there.   It might just mean that the water wasn’t high enough at that point to infiltrate the lines, so I’m suggesting that the video still happen.  If it doesn’t indicate that lining is necessary, then discussion about whether or not to contract with ProForm is almost a moot question.”

Trustee Mark Brown said, “The whole idea was to keep this moving along” and the council, in a separate motion, authorized Honeysett to contract with ProForm to install cured-in-place lining in the East Water Street section of sewer line at a cost of $15,325 – if the videotaping shows the work needs to be done.  Honeysett said, if the project proceeds, the $400 cost of the videotaping would be rolled into the cured-in-place lining cost.

Groundwater infiltration is suspected to be the cause of higher-than-expected sewer flows from Constantine to the wastewater treatment plant in Three Rivers.