Representatives from Sunrise Engineering visited members of the Wellington City Council on Thursday evening to give updates on the upcoming sewer project. It was stated that Sunrise Engineering is now about 60-70 percent complete with the information needed for the report.
One thing that needed to be discussed is the portion of the report that includes considering multiple options and alternatives. From prior conversations, the further approach is known but the engineering company wished to confirm areas with the council. The alternatives presented were no action or to do nothing, replacing all the failed or failing pipe, all pipe repair and force main, just emergency repairs on main, use fold and form pipe liner throughout the whole system instead of digging up and replacing pipes, or to phase the work out over three different projects over 15 years.
Previously, phasing approaches were examined. However, with that being said and the summary of costs estimated, the recommendation was to lean toward alternative two, which is to replace all the pipes, laterals, etc. but not doing the forced main and individual lift stations.
To do all of the repairs, the cost raises from 6.8 to 7.6 million. The council members unanimously agreed that they prefer the second alternative. It was explained that they currently are chasing funding with rural development, water quality and the Community Impact Board (CIB). Initially, the plan was to attend the CIB meeting in January. However, it may be canceled. The option was given to move up to the December meeting or attend the meeting in March.
Sunrise Engineering was informed that currently, the CIB is over-allocated for this trimester, making now not the ideal time to approach the board. The recommendation from higher-ups was to attend in March and request them to suspend and fund in order to not wait until June under the grounds that the application was applied in this cycle, on time, and the January meeting was canceled.
Attending the March meeting would make the CIB the last approach and the group would already know what funding is coming from the other participants. The water quality meeting is slated for February.