Two sewer lift stations, which pump city wastewater from the south side/Minges Brook area to the north, are getting a facelift.
The two lift stations are Edgebrook – on Edgebrook Drive south of Minges Circle – and Minges Brook – on the west side of Capital Avenue SW at Wahwahtaysee Way.
Many sewer pipes move sewage to the Wastewater Treatment Plant using gravity, but in parts of the city where that doesn’t work to get the sewage there, lift stations and their pumps help the process. Edgebrook and Minges Brook are two large lift stations out of more than 100 across the city’s sewer system.
For your information: We are going to talk about the wet well in each lift station. This is the tank sewage comes into at the lift station. When it reaches a certain level, the pumps turn on and proceed pumping the sewage toward the treatment plant.
The previous setup of both lift stations required staff to work below ground to access the pumps for maintenance. After construction, both lift stations’ pumps will be accessible at ground level, creating a safer environment. The two lift stations are interconnected along Wahwahtaysee, so if one needs maintenance, the other can help continue service to this large area of the city.
Edgebrook
- This is the bigger project of the two. Work began in early August and we expect to complete it in the early fall of 2024.
- This station’s service area is large, but has room to expand. This project greatly increases the size of the wet well, which improves the response time of the lift station. Capacity will increase from 3,500 gallons per minute to 5,000, and allows for expansion of this service area to the south and southwest.
- The lift station will get new pumps, electrical equipment, and chemical feeds, and there will be land work at the site, and upgrades to the force mains and sewers in the area.
- This project does not impact neighbors’ sewer service. The existing lift station continues to operate while we build the new one around it.
- As of this information, underground work is still in progress, which can cause some noise and vibration. This is the work that allows us to expand the wet well and access/work on the pipes.
- Related, we must pump the water out of this lift station and the pipes so that we can work underground. This lowers the general level of groundwater in the area, including the pond nearby. We hope to complete this part of the work by late fall, and the water will return to its previous level.
- Some equipment takes a long time to arrive, which is why we will finish this project in 2024. The final component is a natural gas generator, which serves as backup to operate the lift station, in the event of a power outage.
Minges Brook
- Initial work on this lift station started in late May. We expect it to finish this fall. Again, the backup generator is the piece we will be waiting for to complete the job.
- This lift station had a small building around it, which we have removed. In its place will be a smaller concrete structure, with a flat top.
- This lift station’s service area does not have room to grow, so we are not adding general capacity here. However, we are increasing the wet well capacity.
- Again, this project does not affect sewer service to neighbors. We are bypassing the sewage flow around the lift station, to connect to the larger force main in a different location.
- Some neighbors noticed cloudy water in late July/early August, and that has since cleared up. This was when underground work really got going, which stirred up the groundwater, causing the visible change.
