Township sewer maintenance program awarded

By Dana Casadei

The Bloomfield Township Board of Trustees unanimously voted to award Pipeline Infrastructure Services the contract for the Bloomfield Township maintenance sewer program at their meeting on Monday, August 28.

While there is not an exact amount of money this program will cost year after year, the contract will not exceed $350,000 per fiscal year. The contract is for three years, with the ability to extend for two additional one-year periods. 

The decision to put the maintenance sewer program out for bids came after a price increase last April from Liqua-Force, now Granite lnliner, which the township has worked with since the program began. 

“We wanted one contract to be able to handle all this. It’s more efficient. It’s a better fit for all of us,” said Paul Horen, township public works superintendent.

Granite Inliner did not put in a bid on this proposal. 

Township officials had hoped to find a company that could do more than their current one, combining the need for root and grease control, spotlining without having to use an additional outside source, televising, and more detailed reporting. 

They found that with Pipeline Infrastructure Services.

Currently, there are about 270 sanitary sewer systems that are part of the township’s maintenance sewer program, up considerably from when the program started. Each year this number has grown, and in order to prevent that upward tick, Horen said he hopes this new contract will allow contractors to get to the grit of the issues, such as finding out where grease is coming from, then eventually, eliminate these from the maintenance sewers as opposed to just going in and cleaning them every few months like they are doing now. 

The same would happen with the sewers in need of root control by instead of just going in and cutting the roots month after month, they would now cut the roots, use root treatment, and kill the roots so they wouldn’t come back for some time. Horen said using a root treatment would end up being a lot cheaper in the long-run instead of having to have someone return every few months to cut the roots down. 

“I think it’s a great idea to put all three together,” said treasurer Brian Kepes. “I think it’ll be far more efficient. It’ll be better for the residents and for the businesses.”

Bloomfield Township entered into an agreement with Liqua-Force back in 2017 to provide services as needed to the township’s maintenance sewer program. The sanitary sewers on that program are identified by the township as ones that need more attention due to issues such as root control and grease that require clearing more frequently than routine maintenance. 

Horen also mentioned the eventual plan to not only bring the number of sewer systems on the sewer maintenance list down, but also to start a grease education program to help businesses know what they can and can not dump. 

“If we do get a grease back up, we’ll go clean it, break it free, camera it, then we can pinpoint it more, where we’re going to send the education to,” Horen said. “It’s the education first I feel is the right way to go.”