Pine Bluff Wastewater Utility and the city of Pine Bluff are investing $10.6 million into a parallel force main from the Kansas Street pump station to the Boyd Point Water Treatment facility.
Representatives from Garney Construction of Nashville, Tenn., which will construct the force main, and designing firm Crist Engineers of Little Rock joined members of the Wastewater Utility commission Tuesday morning for the announcement.
A force main moves wastewater to a treatment facility. The new installment will measure more than 1,200 feet long and 42 inches in diameter, and it will replace an existing line installed in the 1960s that is facing deterioration.
“We had some problems with the force main that had been broken,” utility manager Ken Johnson said. “Fortunately, it had been on land, so we had to do some repairs. The general public may have the idea that pipes underground will last forever. That is definitely not true. We’re very fortunate to not have a break in the Arkansas River in Lake Langhofer with the existing force main.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Wastewater engineers started looking into the project within the last five years, Ken Johnson said.
He called the project a major investment in the infrastructure, adding $5.5 million will come from the city and the remainder from Wastewater Utility coffers. No state or federal funds are used in the project, and the project will not result in a rate increase, Johnson said.
Ken Johnson announced the new force main on the 40th anniversary of his employment with the Wastewater Utility. He called the upcoming project, which is estimated to last 330 days, the largest civil engineering project in which the utility has been involved.
“That’s a big plus because, in addition to putting the line in, it would give more capacity to Pine Bluff and surrounding areas when we talk about hotels, casino and other new industries coming to the city,” Ken Johnson said. “We can be assured that we have the capacity to have any new wastewater sources come to our collection system.”
About 835 feet of the force main will go across Lake Langhofer, according to Chris Johnson of Crist Engineers. That would make it the longest float-and-sink force main Crist has done and maybe the longest for a municipal construction in the company’s 78-year history, he said.
Ben Janson of Garney Construction said there are some permitting requirements his company must meet, and it will reach out to bass clubs, hunting clubs and the state’s Natural Resources Division to begin work.
“Making people aware that we are constructing this pipeline and we’ll be working at this lake,” Janson said. “At some point, we’ll have the line stretched out across the lake before we sink it. It’s not expected to be a very long duration where we have it 100% blocked off where traffic can’t get to us.”
A quote is clarified from the previous version.