Agenda - 09-03-1996 - IX-C - Laserfiche WebLink

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7 On several occasions, Orange County staff have met and corresponded with Mr. Lloyd and his consulting engineer to discuss methods of providing sewer service for the car wash. Mr. Lloyd and his engineer have cited cost figures for three alternatives: 1) installing a gravity sewer line between the car wash and the existing McGowan Creek pumping station; 2) installing a private pumping station on his property and a small diameter force main between his pumping station and the McGowan Creek pumping station; and 3)tapping into the existing ten inch force main lying across Hwy 70 from his property and installing a private pumping station on his property and a small diameter force main from his pumping station to the tap on the ten inch force main. The engineer's cost estimates show that tapping the force main is the alternative which, by a significant percentage, costs Mr. Lloyd the least. While County staff has not concurred that the costs cited by Mr. Lloyd are accurate, staff does acknowledge that extension of a gravity line represents the greatest initial cost and the force main tap represents the least initial cost to Mr. Lloyd. The staff position has been that: 1)minimizing Mr. Lloyd's cost in acquiring sewer service is not necessarily the County's overriding concern; 2)the installation of a small diameter force main to the existing McGowan Creek pumping station, while not the cheapest alternative, does represent the best initial cost/feasibility ratio; 3)provision of individual sewer service by means of tapping the force main is or can be a major Efland sewer system policy issue in that allowing one force main tap will set a precedent for allowing individual sewer service taps at any point along the force main; 4)while tapping sewer force mains is possible and does occasionally occur, most engineers and utility providers discourage or prohibit making service connection taps on force mains that have not been specifically designed to provide for such service connections; and 5) County planning and utility servicelservice area policy generally recognize that sewer force mains are and should be used to extend essential sewer service to satellite municipal service areas while precluding demands to provide sewer service along the route of the force main. Items(4) and(5) a outlined above are complex issues and require additional explanation. Item 4 accounts for the operational realities of tapping a force main. The tap itself requires that a permanent hole be drilled or cut into the piping of the force main which operates under pressure. After the tap is cut and the service connection is established, waste in the individual service connection line must be discharged into the system force main(by means of an on-site pumping station)under pressure equal to or greater than that in the force main. The service connection piping must be equipped with pressure fittings, cutoff valves and check valves(one-way flow control valves)to prevent the backflow of pressurized waste from the system force main into the waste system of the building connected to the force main by the service connection. The fittings, valves and lines of the service connection operate in a very corrosive environment under nearly constant pressure from either the on-site or the system pumping station. Failure of service connection valves, fittings or piping subjected to the normal operating pressure of the system force main could result in the discharge of thousands of gallons of sanitary waste from the Efland system. Mitigation of environmental consequences, repair of damages to US 70, etc., would be the legal and financial responsibility of the County. Item 5 addresses the potential that allowing taps to be made to the Efland force main could conceivably be used as a precedent-setting decision for allowing service taps on other existing sewer force mains within areas of Orange County judged undesirable or unsuitable for provision of sewer service. The New Hope Elementary School, Piney Mountain and Rangewood are examples of instances where force mains are used to provide satellite urban utility service 4