The city of Valparaiso broke ground Tuesday afternoon on 1,200 feet of new sewer that will separate storm and sanitary water west of the courthouse square, cutting flooding and reducing the water sent for treatment.
The Weston Street Storm Sewer Project will also affect 10 homes. “I think the road’s been flooding, destroying it over time,” said City Administrator Steve Poulos.
“This is really kind of an important milestone,” said Mayor Jon Costas. “We’re not thrusting deferred maintenance on the next generation.”
The $2.4 million project concludes the separation of 90% of the city’s sanitary and stormwater systems. “We’ve done tens of millions (of dollars) of separation projects over the years,” Poulos said.
He said it’s not to say that the remaining 10% of combined sewers in the downtown may not eventually be separated, but that would be evaluated on a project-by-project basis as an ancillary benefit of other work. “We don’t have any flooding issues downtown,” he added. “We’re 99.9% there, but we’ve been working on it for 20 years.”
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U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, was on hand and received thanks from Costas for his assistance in winning a $958,752 Clean Water State Revolving Fund grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for the project. Costas said former U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky had a tremendous reputation for constituent service and Mrvan is carrying on the tradition strongly.
Mrvan praised city staff for the work they put in creating the strong application that allowed him to successfully compete against the other members of Congress seeking funds for their districts. “It allows us to be able to work toward the future,” he said.
In his remarks, Poulos brought up the recent storms of Aug. 11. “Events like that actually remind us how important infrastructure and backup systems are to our community,” he said, explaining the city’s majority separation of sanitary and storm sewers has been 20 years in the making. Early in his career, Poulos said just one-quarter inch of rain would wreak havoc on city systems, and now backups and overflows have become a thing of the past.
Construction on the new stormwater sewer begins in the first week of October and will take two to three months to complete. “The residents and the businesses, we appreciate their patience,” Poulos said.
Once work is completed, the road will be brought up to grade and cold-patched, Poulos explained, with full repaving taking place next spring when weather permits.
The new water pathway will divert stormwater into a culvert that feeds Salt Creek, which in turn leads to Lake Michigan. That diverted stormwater means less strain on sanitary water treatment and subsequently less energy usage.
“This is significant,” said City Council Member Barbara Domer, D-3rd, who represents the district where the work is being done.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.